More aid sought to fight gang problem in Snohomish County

Published 11:20 pm Tuesday, September 23, 2008

EVERETT — The gang problem in Snohomish County is bigger than what police can handle alone, a sheriff’s official told a roomful of people Tuesday.

“We need the community to solve this problem,” Snohomish County sheriff’s Chief Jeff Miller said.

About 20 people from various agencies that serve the county’s young people gathered for the first time to talk about what they can do to help prevent kids from joining gangs, as well as what can be done to rescue those who have already joined.

The meeting was meant to pull together the experts who are helping kids, said Ann Plunkett, the director of community partnerships for the sheriff’s office.

Many of the agencies already run prevention programs, such as teen suicide and substance abuse, Plunkett said. These are the people who are going to be able to help set up effective prevention and intervention programs, she said.

The group included members from juvenile detention, school counselors, and service agencies.

Police talked to the group about what they’ve encountered on the streets. They said there are gang members in every city in the county. Gang members are ethnically diverse and not confined to a certain neighborhood.

There are gangs battling each other over past violence, such as the two rival gangs involved in shootings at a Seattle mall and in south Everett, police said.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Craig White, who led the sheriff’s temporary gang enforcement team over the summer, told the agencies that deputies focused their attention along the 128th Street SW corridor, north Everett and Casino Road. What he saw was a need for constructive activities for young people to keep them off the streets and away from gang recruiters.

Some said it could be as simple as starting a soccer league for kids after school. A soccer league has been highly successful at Explorer Middle School.

Others said they thought the solution may be more complicated.

They need to address why the kids are being enticed into gangs and what they can do to change their thinking about being in gangs.

The group agreed that they need more information about gang activity in the county and plans to meet again to talk about what kind of assessment needs to be done to understand the problem and find solutions. Eventually they plan to meet with others in the community about how they can help.

“We’ll never get back to Mayberry,” Miller said. “We can get close. We can get better.”

Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.