The epidemic of violence and crime is a problem that most cities across America have faced at one point or another. To win the war against crime, different cities have adopted different strategies with varying effectiveness. What I attempt to resolve are the consequences of adopting policies which target specific segments of the urban population as the main perpetrators of crime. Specifically, I will examine the creation of the Gang Task Force in Houston, Texas. The formation of gangs is by no means new in urban areas. People tend to naturally congregate with those of similar interests, age groups, and backgrounds. This is especially true in the years of adolescence when youngsters search for a place to fit in. Belonging to a group is important in the formation of self-identity. In searching for an identity, youth sometimes lash out or rebel against the institutions of society. The group provides security in this rebellion.

Racial profiling in the area of law enforcement is the practice of labeling members of certain races and ethnicities as more likely to be engaged in illegal activities and targeting these members as suspects solely because of their race. Though most police departments across the country would deny condoning such practices, such practices are easily camouflaged by nonracial pretexts for searching cars and pedestrians.1 Profiling is not limited to race; other characteristics such as age and dress are also used as "warning signals" by police officers. This poses a significant problem, especially when people are wrongfully harassed by the police. These are the same police officers that are supposed to serve and protect each citizen! The practice of profiling has "helped breed a deeply corrosive mistrust of law enforcement."2 This mistrust is compounded when the youth are targeted by the police. Young minority males get the wrong message at an early age from law enforcement officials. Repeated incidents of harassment shape opinions for a lifetime. Studies in New Jersey and Maryland both demonstrate the prevalence of racial profiling. For instance, 77 percent of motorists searched on the New Jersey turnpike were black or Hispanic, though 60 percent of those stopped were white. Similarly, 70 percent of the drivers stopped on a stretch of Interstate 95 in Maryland from January 1995 to September 1996 were black, though blacks made up a mere 17 percent of drivers (and of all speeders) on that road. The evidence gets even more disturbing. An innocent black driver in the state of Maryland was four times more likely to be searched as an innocent white driver, despite the fact that such practices were banned in the state.3 Also, a recent training video for state troopers in Louisiana advocated stopping and drug searching "males of foreign nationalities, mainly Cubans, Colombians, Puerto Ricans, or other swarthy outlanders." These incidents are not isolated, but commonplace.

The policy stance of the Reagan administration has had lasting repercussions in areas concerning the inner-city youth. Though the Reagan years were marked by decreases in the overall tax rates, the tax base was shifted disproportionately to the middle class and the poor. Also, spending was cut in many of the social safety net programs. During this period the real wages for the upper class rose, while the real wages for the middle and lower class remained stagnate and even fell for some income levels. Thus, the income disparity between the extremely rich and the masses grew. The reduced benefits of federal programs along with the decline in purchasing power for the middle and lower classes meant that the 80's were not good times for the inner city youth. It was during these turbulent times that crime, drugs, and violence rose nationwide. The problem was simple: with "no permanent, life sustaining employment to look forward to, various alternative paths, many of which are anti-social and involve drugs, can appear promising to urban youth."4 As youth crime(and overall crime) rose during the 80's, the public began to cry for tough law enforcement. As such, Reagan launched his "War on Drugs". This war on crime amounted to a war on the poor, a war on minority groups, and a war on the youth.5 This pattern of rising crime and subsequent public outcry is evident in the actions taken by the City of Houston in its attempts to combat the problems of crime and violence.

This is the political climate that prompted the formation of the Gang Task Force in Houston, Texas in 1993. As the inner-city minority youth are a highly visible and politically powerless group, they are an easy target for politicians and police departments as scapegoats for the larger problems associated with crime. Despite the availability of options that included erecting a youth center aimed at providing safe alternatives to spending time on the streets, the public (fueled by a tough on crime mentality) opted for more police intervention. The City of Houston responded by creating the following departments: The Anti-Gang Activities Department (a subdivision of the Office of Public Safety) and the Police Department's Gang Task Force. These offices implement "prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies to stop gang violence" to "enhance the quality of life for all Houstonians."6 Prevention involves education and attempts to reach children at an early age so that they never join a gang. Intervention programs try to get people that are in gangs to leave the gang life and enter the job market. Suppression strategies include tactical patrols by law enforcement, vertical prosecution by district attorneys, and intensive supervision by probation departments. Generally, suppression involves the arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of gang members.7 Another aspect connected with the anti-gang efforts is the cataloging of gangs and suspected gang members in databases. In attempts to collect these records, police officers routinely stop and photograph youths that they believe to be gang members. No criminal record is necessary, nor is any proof of gang affiliation needed to be included in the database. Suspicion of the officers and fitting a profile is sufficient. Characteristics that are considered suspect include being under 25 years of age, male, an ethnic minority, wearing certain color clothing, wearing baggy clothing, or having a tattoo. Though the Houston City Government and the Police Department claim to be acting in the best interests of all citizens, the suppression tactics they use are harmful to law abiding citizens that happen to fit the misguided profile for gang members. In correspondence with Lieutenant A. Carson, Houston's City Wide Gang Coordinator, he denied that the department condoned racial profiling. He was reluctant to clarify what avenues are available to those that feel they are the targets of racial profiling, only stating that "an internal affairs department exists that conducts investigations into serious misconduct."5

Problems Current Solutions Pose

What are the costs of racial profiling? Basically, a large segment of the inner city population is denied their civil liberties so that the majority of the population can "feel safe". The systematic stopping and harassment of individuals because of sex, age, and race is clearly a violation of one's Constitutional Rights. However, how does one prove the intention of the officer is motivated solely by race? What problems are caused when entire segments of the population feel that the police department is not there for their protection, but to harass them? The deep mistrust of the police department by minority groups and the youth has lasting effects as they will become less likely to report crimes, cooperate with police, provide leads, to testify as witnesses, and when they serve as witnesses, to convict guilty people.9 Also, the practice of cataloging suspected gang members in computer databases poses additional Constitutional questions. Often, this gang-tracking database is used in conjunction with civil gang injunctions. Such injunctions ban gang members from associating with other gang members or from congregating in public areas. Such injunctions constitute an infringement on people's right to assemble and their freedom to associate. Also, when these databases include people that are not gang members and these people have no recourse in removing themselves from the database, their rights are violated.10 Another problem the strategies employed by Houston poses is fostering increased racial tension as white citizens view the suppression tactics as normal police procedure.11 Also, suppression tactics do not rid the city of gang members, but merely hide them away in jails and increase the likelihood that they will become life-long criminals. Though the problems of gang violence have decreased in Houston since the creation of the Gang Task Force and the Anti-Gang Office, there is no direct link between these policies and the reduced crime. Evidence tends to show that increases in the real wages of the lower and middle class in the 90's has more to do with lowered crime rates nationwide.12

Alternate Solutions

Alternate solutions to suppression tactics and racial profiling exist. Increasing the efforts in areas such as prevention and intervention are more likely to have greater long-term success. However, the public and politicians often opt for quick results over strategies that take time. Though intervention and prevention are a part of the Houston strategy, they do not play prominent roles. Many advocates for change propose community-based efforts in curbing violence. Such efforts would involve cooperation between civic groups, gang members, the police department, government agencies, and the business community.13 Key to these efforts would be improving educational and skill training so that these disenfranchised youth may be able to compete in the global market.14 Decreasing the emphasis on gang affiliation as an indicator of criminal activity would help decrease the practice of racial profiling and the problems associated with them. Also, police departments should begin more training and record keeping in recognizing their profiling biases. As a measure to decrease racial tensions, more minority officers should be hired as well.15 With these efforts in place, police can focus on real crimes rather than so-called crimes of association.

Racial profiling hurts the entire community. Not only do innocent people get harassed and form negative perceptions of the police department, but many criminals do not get stopped or searched because they are not minorities. As such, our prisons disproportionately house more minorities because the law enforcement agencies target minorities. For our society to move forward, we must become a truly inclusive society. We must educate and embrace the inner-city youth so that a permanent underclass does not form. For the public to adopt policies that are more progressive in dealing with youth crime, they must recognize that crime is not just an inner-city problem, but a problem everyone must address. The young are to be cherished not targeted.

Bibliography

Carson, Lieutenant A. Houston City Wide Gang Coordinator. E-mail correspondence.

City of Houston Office for Public Safety and Drug Policy Home Page.

www.ci.houston.tx.us./citygovt/mayor/opsdp.html

City of Houston Mayor's Office Home Page.

www.ci.houston.tx.us./citygovt/mayor/index.html