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TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum and members of the Gang Reduction Strategy Executive Committee today released their statewide gang reduction strategy, developed to address the significant threat of criminal gangs and gang violence in Florida. The strategy focuses on the three key goals of stopping the growth of gangs in Florida, reducing the number of gangs and gang members, and rendering the remaining gangs ineffectual and is built on the pillars of prevention/intervention, law enforcement, and rehabilitation and re-entry.

“Today we are presenting a blueprint for a safer Florida,” said Attorney General McCollum. “This statewide strategy, developed by the Executive Committee, provides real direction that for the first time tackles this growing threat to our neighborhoods from a statewide prospective.”

The strategy will be implemented through regional task forces throughout the state, with the first task force to be launched on September 9 at St. Petersburg College. The Attorney General stressed that the key to the success of the strategy would be coordination and cooperation among community leaders and the business community as well as government entities, law enforcement, and elected officials. An important objective will be providing effective intervention programs for young people who are the most likely targets of gang recruitment and identified young gang members. The Attorney General has also initiated partnerships with community groups, including the Florida Urban Leagues, the Boys and Girls Clubs and the NAACP, which will be critical to the strategy’s success.

“Derrick Brooks Charities and the Florida Consortium of Urban League Affiliates support the gang reduction strategy because of its three prongs: prevention/intervention; law enforcement; and rehabilitation and reentry,” said Darrell Daniels, Director of the Derrick Brooks Charities Youth Programs for Hillsborough County. “This holistic approach allows us to continue our efforts in prevention, intervention and awareness. We believe the strategy will allow us to reduce the proliferating gang problem in the state of Florida.”

“Florida's schools and teachers play a critical role in reducing the influence of gangs and gang-related activities on our children,” said Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith, a member of the Executive Committee. “The Department of Education is committed to ensuring a safe and secure learning environment so students can be more successful and less likely to engage in dangerous behaviors.”

The law enforcement component will include multiple objectives, one of which will be improving data collection and information exchange among state and federal authorities on gangs and gang members and their activities. This component will also focus on coordinating law enforcement and prosecution efforts by setting priorities and targeting the most problematic or dangerous gangs, gang activities and gang-related prosecutions all over Florida. As part of this coordinated effort to combat gangs, the 18th Statewide Grand Jury has already indicted 53 suspected gang members in several Florida cities and the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution is currently prosecuting members from several gangs throughout the state.

“We’re working to deliver gang training to Florida law enforcement,” said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey, a member of the Executive Committee. “This training, coupled with an enhanced collection and exchange of information, will bolster the enforcement activities underway.”

The strategy also emphasizes the importance of working to provide gang members currently incarcerated with job training and other essential rehabilitation skills. One of the rehabilitation and re-entry objectives will be to expand opportunities for programs designed to help incarcerated gang members prepare for re-entry into society upon completion of their sentences.

“The objectives of the strategy align well with the Department’s rehabilitation plan,” said Department of Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil, also an Executive Committee member. “Since most of our inmates will eventually return to society, substance abuse treatment, education and vocational training are vital in helping these former inmates become law abiding members of society. When people can support themselves, they have a reduced likelihood of turning to crime.”

“Prevention and intervention are key to stemming the growth of gangs in Florida,” said Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Frank Peterman, Jr., an Executive Committee member. “If we can block these at-risk youth from entering gangs in the first place, we will stop the cycle of criminal activity before it begins.”

Re-entry objectives also include counseling and mentoring these former gang members so they will turn away from gang membership and/or participation and toward becoming productive members of society when released. Funding for the rehabilitation and re-entry programs will be pursued from private and federal sources.

To implement the strategy, the Executive Committee will soon become the Coordinating Council on Gang Reduction Strategies, created by statute during the 2008 Florida Legislative Session. The Council will be responsible for coordinating, implementing, and measuring the progress of the Florida Gang Reduction Strategy. More information about the gang reduction strategy and a full list of Executive Committee members is available online at: http://www.safeflorida.net/safestreets. A full copy of the report is available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGRG-7FVPNR/$file/GangReductionReportWEB.pdf.