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May 03, 2023

TO BEAT GANGS, NN SHIFTS GRIP

A successful federal program in Richmond is the city’s model for handling the

A successful federal program in Richmond is the city's model for handling the problem.

The police van pulled into the parking lot with Lt. Mike Zohab at the wheel. He did a slow turn and pointed toward the curb.

"Mother's Day last year, there were two homicides in my area," Zohab said. "One was right there. An individual was shot in the back of the head with a shotgun in between two vehicles. A beautiful day like today, people all over."

Welcome to the Communities at Southwood, an apartment complex in the Broad Rock corridor of south Richmond. It is ground zero in the fight against gang violence in this city, where a federally funded program with a cradle-to-gang strategy has begun to turn things around.

The approach is not lost on officials in Newport News, who are thinking along the same lines in attacking the budding gang problem on the Peninsula.

The federal program is called GRIP, short for Gang Reduction and Intervention Program. The test sites are Richmond, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and North Miami Beach.

More than just taking a hammer to gang violence, GRIP reaches into schools, churches and homes. It diverts kids into after-school programs or onto soccer fields before gang members can entice them. It identifies teens who are trying to leave gangs. It even funds a tattoo removal program.

But it doesn't forget the hammer. Armed with a $2.5 million federal grant awarded in 2003, Richmond police targeted Sectors 212 and 213 on their map and put the screws to Southwood, an apartment complex that was responsible for nearly 40 percent of the crime in Zohab's area.

"We basically took this property under siege," Zohab said. "I had four to six officers here 24 hours a day. Once we got it to where it was a relatively safe environment, that's when we started instituting the other programs."

A short walk from that former murder scene shows how things have changed.

Apartment workers shovel mulch and work next to manicured lawns. When someone reports graffiti, it is removed within 24 hours. Junked refrigerators that once dotted the property are gone.

A mobile medical clinic from Bon Secours visits the complex on a regular basis. The nearby Boys and Girls Club has expanded its hours and added bilingual staff, since up to 70 percent of the residents are Hispanic. A community center operates in a building where men once hung out and swilled beer.

Running the complex is a financial struggle for Noah Berkowicz, the property manager who started in January. About 400 of his 1,268 units stand vacant, but even that has a positive side.

Berkowicz, a former director of outpatient drug rehab in New York state, has no patience for tenants who break the law. He evicts them as fast as possible.

"The sad part is, most of the criminals that live here are paying," he said. "They don't carry balances, but they cause the problems that are far more important than money."

Applicants still show up with fake Social Security numbers, thinking this is the Southwood that accepts anyone, even killers. But the area is getting the message.

"It seems that everyone is so invested in this community," Berkowicz said.

The bureaucratic organization of GRIP is fairly simple. Committees are formed to deal with all aspects of the gang problem, from prevention to suppression.

The office of Attorney General Bob McDonnell, which administers the program, pulled in the private sector and churches along with police, social services and nonprofits, and put everyone at the table.

Esther Welch, the AG's gang reduction program coordinator, said people were close-mouthed at first.

"They didn't want to share information," she said. "Then they started building relationships and working toward the same goal. They started seeing the results of their efforts and so they became a team."

A parent suggested extending the hours at the Boys and Girls Club, so the grant paid for extra staff members and covered the cost of longer hours. The Bon Secours unit was another suggestion.

Newport News isn't as bad as Richmond when it comes to gangs, says Bobby Kipper, a former Newport News police officer, now the GRIP executive director in the Attorney General's office.

But he sees parallels.

"Newport News is experiencing the same sort of influx," Kipper said. "The problem came here (to Richmond) before it came to Newport News. I think Newport News is going to experience it."

Newport News doesn't have a federal grant, but city officials and others are thinking and working toward a comprehensive approach.

Steve Kast is the chief executive officer of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula, which began work in early 2004 on an outreach program to prevent kids from joining gangs. It will join the city in a soon-to-be-announced initiative on youth safety.

He shares the same philosophy as the Richmonders: divert kids to something productive before gangs can claim them.

"We have the makings of it getting out of control unless we get in touch with it now and put the prevention programs in place to deal with it," said Kast, who commended Police Chief James Fox for being up front about the problem.

Kids anywhere from 6 to 18 years old are referred to the club through a variety of sources, from schools to public housing. The outreach program provides mentors to steer kids away from gang life.

"Most of them are lacking something in their lives or their families and they want to connect with someone," Kast said.

Getting money is another reason for choosing gang life, so the program steers kids toward jobs by providing referrals.

Kast said he is encouraged by the program's success. It recruited 138 kids and targeted 125 to measure the results. Of the latter number, a dozen were involved with gangs before they entered the program. None were involved after one year.

"Our results are absolutely amazing," he said.

Newport News City Manager Randy Hildebrandt said the city is familiar with the GRIP approach and wants to employ the same comprehensive strategy in its upcoming youth safety initiative, details of which have not been announced.

"It's going to be a broad-based model, but one element will specifically deal with gangs and gang-related violence," he said.

Meanwhile, the newly approved city budget adds three detective positions to handle youth-related crimes and services, which will help on the enforcement side.

Newport News Police Lt. David Graham, a 17-year veteran of law enforcement, said city gangs are unique in one respect.

"They are not confined in any area," he said.

The most common gang-related problems range from graffiti and destruction of property to stabbings and assaults by mobs. Most of the gang involvement is focused on minors — about 400 gang members in Newport News are under 18, according to police figures cited by the Boys and Girls Club.

Del. Phil Hamilton, R-Newport News, has been pushing the GRIP approach for Newport News for months. He wanted the city to spend state money on the program, but city officials chose to hire the three detectives and make other moves.

Still, Hamilton said he sees potential for GRIP elsewhere.

"If there is a program out there that has a proven track record of success, let's try to develop a comprehensive strategy," he said. "This could be expanded to be a Lower Peninsula initiative."

It might sound trite, but there is no substitute for breaking down the barriers that divide government, churches and the private sector and agreeing to fight a problem, said Zohab.

"I’m on my 19th year," he said, "and I’ve sat at roundtable discussions with various organizations for 15 years, and that was it. We’d sit around and say, ‘This is my problem,’ and that would be it. There was never any relationship. Part of this GRIP family, so to speak, is that we have a relationship. We have constant communication. Without that, it would be a failure." *

What is GRIP?

The federal initiative stands for Gang Reduction and Intervention Program and tries to divert kids from entering gangs.

THROWING THE BOOK AT GANGS

The 2006 General Assembly passed several new laws to stem gang violence. All were part of Attorney General Bob McDonnell's legislative package.

Probation: Clarifies that judges can restrict gang members on probation from contacting other gang members.

Fake IDs: Allows prosectors to seek stiffer penalties for people who manufacture, reproduce or use fake IDs in certain crimes.

Casting a wider net: Adds two crimes to the list that make someone eligible for prosecution under state gang laws: threats to bomb and receiving money for procuring a person for prostitution.

Drugs: Creates stiffer penalties for midlevel drug dealers: at least five years in prison and up to a $1 million fine. It also imposes a five-year minimum prison term for those convicted of manufacturing, selling or distributing drugs for a third or subsequent time.

PREVENTION

Richmond is one of four sites in the U.S. for an anti-gang program focusing on diverting young people away from gangs before they get into trouble. Newport News officials are moving along the same lines, but on a smaller scale.

Richmond: Sector 212, which includes the Southwoods apartment complex, was the most crime-ridden section of the city a year ago. Crime is now down 67 percent, making it one of the city's success stories.

Newport News: The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula have a targeted outreach program for kids ages 6 to 18. Recent findings show that a target group of 125 kids who entered the program had no gang involvement after one year. A dozen had been involved with gangs before the program and all were considered at risk of joining gangs.

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