Hahn Seeks Law Enforcement Summit on Gangs

Decrying the spiraling incidents of gang violence in Los Angeles County, Supervisor Kenneth Hahn called Friday for a “summit conference” of local law enforcement leaders to combat gang-related crimes.

Present efforts to deal with the worsening gang problem need to be increased, Hahn said. He specifically singled out the county Probation Department for criticism.

The veteran supervisor urged a meeting of top officials to try to put a stop to gang-induced street warfare, which claimed 387 lives in the county last year.

“It’s frightening that some people can’t go to church or can’t stand on the corner without being afraid that some gang is going to take an Uzi (machine gun) and spray them all,” Hahn told reporters at a news conference.

In a letter to Sheriff Sherman Block urging him to convene such a meeting, Hahn, whose supervisorial district includes some of the worst gang-ridden neighborhoods in the county, said officials were not adequately protecting residents, and “the situation is getting steadily worse.”

Described as ‘Gang Capital’

Describing Los Angeles as “the gang capital of America,” Hahn suggested that all the police chiefs in Los Angeles County, the district attorney, the local FBI director, the U.S. marshal, the presiding judges of the Municipal and Superior courts and his son--Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn--meet soon to discuss a “comprehensive plan” to crack down on street gangs.

Block, who blamed gang violence on the escalating drug trade, said the gang problem is centered primarily in only a few areas of the county. The sheriff said he would seriously consider the supervisor’s proposal.

“This is not a suggestion I will take lightly or discard,” Block said. “It is one that I will focus on; something I will kick around not only with my own staff but with others in the law enforcement community to see if they want to get together.”

Deputy Chief Glenn A. Levant, who was named last week to coordinate anti-gang efforts by the Los Angeles Police Department, said his agency is already working closely with other law enforcement groups but welcomed any effort to stimulate additional county interest--if it is more than a publicity gesture.

“If it’s just another meeting with TV cameras, I don’t know what good would come from it, but if he’s talking more about coordination between agencies, it can only help,” Levant said.

Sheriff’s officials estimated that there are 600 street gangs with 75,000 members in the county, and the number of deaths from their constant battles has risen sharply.

The number of gang-related deaths, for example, increased from 328 in 1986 to 387 in 1987, according to Sgt. Wes McBride of Operation Safe Streets, the Sheriff’s Department’s anti-gang detail. Among the 387 fatalities last year, 79 were in areas patrolled by sheriff’s deputies, including 60 in Hahn’s district alone.

The number of reported drive-by shootings in the county, where gangs shot into inhabited dwellings, increased from 208 in 1986 to 283 in 1987, McBride said.

A county coordinating committee composed of officials from various law enforcement and social service agencies has met monthly for the last seven years to deal with gang issues, but it consists largely of managerial and operational staff members. But Bruce Coplen, who heads the city attorney’s anti-gang unit, said there are no federal officials on it, and he welcomed the summit plan.

Hahn drew a comparison between his summit meeting and another.

“If (Soviet leader Mikhail) Gorbachev and (President) Reagan can meet and have peace in the world, why can’t we have peace in Los Angeles,” he said.

Hahn had harsh words for the county’s Probation Department, which he said has not been tough enough with youthful offenders and gang members.

“The Probation Department is a failure. Parole and probation is a failure because we have so many people repeat, repeat, repeat (committing crimes),” said Hahn, who also called for an overhaul of the justice system.

Reacting to Hahn’s criticisms, Barry J. Nidorf, the county’s chief probation officer, said he shared the supervisor’s frustrations but defended his department’s programs, saying they have been emulated nationwide.

“I would take issue with that statement,” Nidorf said. “I’d stack our (anti-gang) programs up against anyone else’s.”

Hahn outlined his proposal after summoning reporters to his office. He said he thought of the summit idea after seeing a headline in Friday’s Herald Examiner that said, “County Gang Toll Worse Than Ever.”

“As soon as I finished shaving, I got the idea. I said, ‘What’s wrong.’ My wife said, ‘What’s wrong with the whole system?’ ” Hahn said. “Whoever the headline writer was, sure got my attention.”

Times staff writer Steven Braun contributed to this story.