EVERETT — Gang violence is down, and the Police Department and community groups hope to make inroads on steering kids clear.
Comparing 2017 to 2018, gang-related cases in Everett were down 39 percent, from 136 in 2017 to 82 cases last year, of which 33 of those 82 cases were for graffiti. Juvenile cases
involving a firearm are tracking similarly, at down 38 percent, from 50 cases to 31. The juvenile statistic is a new category tracking when a juvenile was a victim, witness, suspect or otherwise involved.
Drive-by shootings overall are down from 24 drive-bys in 2017 to eight logged in 2018. One of those eight was specifically categorized as a gang drive-by shooting.
“We’re starting to see some impressive results,” Police Chief Dan Templeman told City Council members last week, adding, “I have not seen numbers like this since I became police chief” in summer 2014. The chief cautioned in an email that the numbers are preliminary and subject to change as some straggling 2018 cases are reviewed, but what he presented is “fairly close” to the expected final numbers.
Last January, Mayor Cassie Franklin challenged the Police Department to build a platform to reduce gang violence among youth. By September, the department announced three programs, of which two have officers working closely with kids.
This year, the department says it will bolster efforts to work with juvenile justice system partners “to evaluate detention and sentencing practices and determine the most effective practices that strike a balance between rehabilitating juvenile offenders and community safety,” according to a late December memo. An action plan is expected by July 1, according to the memo.
The two police programs with at-risk kids are PIVOT and PAY.
The key strategy is simple: Divert teens from gangs before a gang can initiate them. Part of the fight is helping kids feel like they have a wraparound family, which is one factor that experts say can make joining a gang appealing.
The PAY program stands for Pathways for Adolescent Youth, which gives children seen as at-risk to join gangs guidance with positive role models, and nudge them toward extracurriculars and afterschool activities. It’s being piloted at Explorer Middle School, a school located off of Holly Drive in south Everett where about half the kids qualify for free or reduced lunches because of low-income status.
The PIVOT program plans to launch this spring to work with kids who may have already faced peer pressure by gangs to create action plans to point them to resources and help.
The average age to join a gang is 13, and teens typically only spent a few scant years active in one, according to a study from Sam Houston State University quoted by the website ScienceDaily.
Working on individual cases, kids are referred to community resources to keep them involved and be dissuaded from joining a gang.
Additionally, the department created the adult position of a gang resource officer, reassigning Master Police Officer Tony Fletcher to the role. Andre Graham,
the director of the South Everett Boys & Girls Club on Casino Road, was announced as a collaborator by participating in the Police Department’s prevention and intervention efforts.
The department partners with the YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, Cocoon House, the organization Hand in Hand for foster children, and a few others.
“If you believe someone doesn’t have a positive influence or that role model, call us and we’ll find one for them,” Fletcher said during a September public meeting.
The mayor’s directive came in response to rising gang activity in Everett. A teenager’s gang-related death allegedly over wearing the “wrong” colored shoes in November 2017 became the most prominent incident.
2017 was a high tide year: Gang-related offenses were up 75 percent in 2017 compared to 2016, according to Police Department statements.
Gang violence is cyclical in nature, according to Al Valdez, a former Orange County, California police officer and prosecutor who was quoted in a report by Congressional Quarterly’s “CQ Researcher” magazine.
A gangs expert within the Police Department said the gangs Everett has include the Sureños, the MS-13, the Norteños, the Blood Gangster Disciples, Asian gangs, as well as Bloods and Crips.
None of the gangs in Snohomish County are race-based like some other areas of the country, the detective said in the September public presentation.
The gang unit as of September was tracking about 400 people in Everett involved in gangs.
