Violent Street Gangs

With only a few days left in the campaign and a deluge outside preventing me from knocking on doors right now, I decided to use this time to write about something that is a growing concern among all Lehigh Valley residents: Violent Street Gangs.

In my professional life as Chief of Staff to State Representative Jennifer L. Mann, I have spent countless hours working to address the gang problem from the legislative side. I have learned quite a lot about the gang phenomenon that I would like to share:

First, we must understand that gangs are not just a “city” problem. Gangs are growing fastest in suburban and rural areas, with the fastest growing region in the Commonwealth being in the Poconos. We cannot address gangs in a vacuum and assume their territory stops at Allentown’s boarders.

Second, children who join gangs obviously do so for a sense of belonging or to substitute for a lack of a family. They find not only companionship within a gang, but structure, a type of discipline and responsibility: the same things that are often missing in a dysfunctional family.

Third, I have been told by some retired and veteran members of the Allentown Police Department that we’ve had a gang problem for 20+ years, but other administrations were reluctant to acknowledge it because of concerns of a loss of business and residents. If this is in fact true, it is quite disconcerting.

Although gang violence has become a hot topic as of late, far too many people in our City have yet to grasp the very real threat they pose. Just as worrisome, many of those who do understand that gangs are real cannot identify warning signs of street gangs (signs, colors, tags, etc).

Representative Mann and I have focused on three major state initiatives to fight gangs: 1) Criminalizing street gangs, 2) Creating a dedicated source of funding to combat them, and 3) Allowing law enforcement to seize money and items that were acquired through gang activities.

If elected, I will continue my work on the local level to combat these criminal organizations. First and foremost, I will help develop a plan to disseminate information to the public to help educate people about the warning signs of gangs including symbols, colors, tags, etc.

In addition, I will encourage partnerships with other municipalities to track gang activities across municipal boards. Along those lines, at the recommendation of a veteran police officer, I will support the hiring of an intelligence clerk – someone who can maintain a database of known gang members, regions, activities, and gang identifiers so our officers can have the best and most up to date information possible.

Lastly, I will work with community partners – non-profits, the faith-based community, youth organizations, etc – to help break up gangs and save as many children as possible from a life of crime. I have already been in contact with a well known non-profit who is interested in being the “go-to” organization for gang membership rehabilitation.

With the right plan, I have no doubt that we can break this cycle of criminal activity.