Anti-gang task force back on track
Tri-county program focuses on information sharing between agencies
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Sunday, December 7, 2008 12:04 AM PST
PAYETTE—After a hiatus, the Tri-County Gang Task Force is back on track and meeting regularly.
Payette Police Chief Mark Clark, who originally organized the gang task force, said the group has been meeting once a month. Approximately 15 people from different police jurisdictions and areas of law enforcement in the region attended the last meeting, Clark said.
The gang task force stalled after it faced a shortage of manpower, but the appointment of a full-time gang officer to the Ontario Police Department helped kick- start the program Clark said.
“We’ve asked that he (OPD’s gang officer) kind of oversee the meetings and the activities of the gang task force,” Clark said. “It only made sense because he could dedicate more time than most people could.”
Clark said while the current focus of the task force is information sharing between the different law enforcement agencies, he does picture the task force’s role expanding in the future.
He said, once the task force becomes more organized, collects more information and gains more training, he would like it to become more active in law enforcement operations, similar to what another agency — the High Desert Task Force — conducts. The High Desert Task Force is an anti-illegal narcotics group consisting of law enforcement officers from Malheur, Payette and Washington counties as well as other jurisdictions.
“That’s something I envision or hope to see happening in the future,” Clark said. “I’d like to see some activity from the team, but that’s going to require a little bit more organization and dedication and training.”
Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee, however, has a slightly different perspective. Kee said that he has already seen the High Desert Task Force operate effectively against local illegal syndicates.
“There’s a definitely a nexus between our local gangs here and drugs, and maybe not by design so much, but just by coincidence it’s happened,” Kee said. “We’re arresting and investigating gang members right now for drug crimes. You know, among other things.”
Clark said, while he doesn’t necessarily foresee a full-time gang task force, monthly meetings will continue in the future because everyone involved believes it is productive and the information sharing is worthwhile.
Kee said, he expects a lot of progress to be made because the Tri-County Gang Task Force has worked with the metro gang task force in Idaho, which started with these meetings and led to an investigation. That investigation, he said, revolves around a group of organized individuals that are participating in criminal activity.
“And we have a real organized investigation going on with our local gangs that is going to pay us some real dividends, and a lot of our intelligence is coming from (the metro task force), and a lot of their intelligence is coming from us,” Kee said.
The interest in the gang task force, however, applies to areas that do not necessarily experience the same gang activity as others, such as Washington County and Weiser specifically.
Weiser Police Chief Greg Moon said, even though Weiser and Washington County don’t have the same gang problems as Ontario or Nampa and Caldwell, the area is starting to see spillover.
Moon considers it to be in his department’s best interest to know what is going on in the region that could eventually affect Weiser/Washington County, which is why the Weiser Police Department is involved in the Tri-County Gang Task Force.
He said, currently, Weiser has a small gang presence of about 15 to 30 members that are scattered and not necessarily well organized. The majority range from 16 to 25 years in age. However, because outside gang influences are filtering into the area and beginning to make overtures and become established, the police department is trying to keep them out and dissuade them from coming into the community.
“We want to keep it that way, and you do that by having good information and being involved with what’s around you,” Moon said.
In the community, Weiser police work the enforcement end when necessary, monitor active gang members’ behaviors and also conduct preventative educational programs.
“We really don’t control the issues as much as they do,” Moon said.
of gang members.
