Gangs on upswing; partnerships called the best antidote

Gangs may not be as visible as they once were in the Salt Lake Valley. But that doesn't mean they're any less active. In fact, gang activity is once again on the rise.

"There was a pretty significant rise in almost every area of serious crime committed by gang members," Salt Lake Metro Gang Unit director Lt. Andy Burton said in comparing statistics from 2002 to 2003.

Gang-related homicides rose from three to five. Robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, burglaries, larceny, vandalism, drug offenses and weapons offenses all increased from 2002 to 2003, Burton said.

"Almost every major category is up," he said.

Even though not everyone in the community may be directly affected by gang-related crimes, the entire community needs to work together to solve the problem. That's the message being stressed at the 14th annual Utah Gang Conference running through today at the South Towne Expo Center. The theme of this year's conference is "Partnerships, working together to build a gang-free future."

"We can't do it alone," said Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger of the Los Angeles Police Department. Paysinger, who delivered the keynote address Thursday, is commander of the area with the largest number of gang members in Los Angeles.

There are more than 9,000 police officers in Los Angeles and more than 50,000 gang members he said.

In his keynote address, titled "Community and Clergy . . . The New Gang Rival," Paysinger pointed out the successes in Los Angeles of getting clergy members and other community leaders more involved. Part of that involvement included more sharing of information between police and clergy. In some cases, clergy members are taken along when warrants are served, he said.

"Gang members won't listen to cops. They'll listen to clergy," Paysinger said.

Many times the public wants to help in eradicating gang activity but they don't know what to do, Paysinger said. That's where police need to be more open in sharing information, he said. If police try to do everything on their own they'll eventually be stretched too thin in too many directions, he said.

"The more we try to do, the less we do it well," Paysinger said.

With more gang members coming to Utah from Los Angeles and Las Vegas all the time, the community needs to stay on top of the problem now before it gets out of hand, Burton said.