BY MATT DINGER Leave a comment
Published: April 19, 2010

An Oklahoma City police unit that targets gangs has been responsible for more than 500 federal and state convictions over the past five years while sharply reducing the number of drive-by shootings. MultimediaPhotoview all photos
More InfoPolice Officers

→Patrol officers: 571

→Hefner: 149

→Santa Fe: 154

→Springlake: 132

→Will Rogers: 136

→Investigations officers: 223 (143 regular and 80 special investigations officers).
This includes all detectives from homicide to sex crimes.

→Support officers: 98. The support staff includes officers whose jobs range from fatality accident scenes to K-9 units and the most expensive police unit, Air One, the police helicopter. The Bricktown and Will Rogers World Airport stations, staffed by Oklahoma City police officers, also fall under the support staff division.
SOURCE: OKLAHOMA CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT

The goal is to stop violence before it happens, police Capt. Pat Byrne said.

Members of the unit, which has about 20 officers, investigators and supervisors, get to know and try to build rapport with gangs, working to glean key information that could prevent deaths and injury.

A task force that pairs Oklahoma City gang officers with the FBI received a national award in 2007 from the Federal Law Enforcement Officers group for success in reducing gang violence.

A task force investigation of the Walnut Street Gangster Crips led to more than 50 federal convictions, Byrne said.


Finding a connection
Officers must find a way to relate to gang members while sympathizing with victims of gang crime.
"They deal with these guys all day, day-in, day-out,” Byrne said. "If you don’t give people any respect, they’re not going to talk to you. These are veteran officers who have worked the streets with gangs and can relate to them.

"They know when to be hard with them and how to get their attention, but sometimes they’re the victims, and it’s real hard to get the victim to cooperate if you act like you don’t care.”

The gang unit provides support to the patrol division and gets daily briefings on crime and suspects.

"Their job is to go out and keep retaliatory actions from happening, but we can’t stop them all,” Byrne said.

Two officers outside the gang unit go out into the community and talk to young people about the dangers of gang life.

"A lot of these kids grow up on it,” Byrne said. "That’s all they know. We have third-generation gang members in Oklahoma City. They see it, and that’s what they’re exposed to. It’s a lifestyle they were born and raised in.”


A small operation
The gang unit is a relatively small operation in a department that includes nearly 900 officers.
Police Chief Bill Citty said decreased city revenue is forcing consideration of cutbacks at a time when the area needs more officers instead.

"The police department has not added personnel during the past 15 years, resulting in a stagnant or reduced staffing level for most areas of the police department,” Citty said. "This includes patrol officers to answer calls for service and increased visibility in our neighborhoods.

"There have been increases in certain crimes and complaints where a task force that targets a specific problem would have been beneficial if the manpower were available. Examples include robbery, sex offender registration, burglary, narcotics, prostitution, underage sales of alcohol and tobacco, targeted traffic enforcement and cyber solicitations of juveniles.”