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Legislature Is Getting Tough With Street Gangs

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By BILL MCCOLLUM

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 7, 2008

There is no denying that Florida has a gang problem. In the Tampa Bay area, there are approximately 120 gangs with more than 3,200 members operating within the region.

These dangerous street gangs, like SUR-13 in South Florida, have members accused of numerous crimes including murder, armed robberies, retaliatory arson and aggravated battery.

Another example of Florida's gang problem is the Brown Pride Locos, a Southwest Florida gang believed to be responsible for the death of a 9-year-old child who was killed by the crossfire of rival gangs while riding his bicycle on a neighborhood street.

Cases just like this are the type currently being investigated by the Statewide Grand Jury on gangs and prosecuted by my Office of Statewide Prosecution and state attorneys, with Florida's sheriffs and police doing their part to help. But these prosecutors and law enforcement need better, tougher laws to assist them.

I am pleased the Florida Legislature, under the leadership of Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, has passed comprehensive anti-gang legislation that will assist Florida's citizens in taking back their neighborhoods.

The bill creates a gang kingpin statute that will allow courts to sentence major gang leaders to life in prison - a key recommendation from the Statewide Grand Jury.

The bill also makes it a third-degree felony to recruit a person into a criminal street gang and it strengthens witness protection laws, requiring gang members to be held in custody until their first appearance before a judge to request bond.

It defines gangs or identified gang members engaged in criminal activity to be a public nuisance, subject to civil injunctions against meeting or engaging in further criminal behavior.

The anti-gang legislation also modernizes Florida's criminal racketeering laws, allowing prosecutors to target street gangs as organized criminal businesses. Gangs operate on a sophisticated level that rivals corporate structures as they traffic drugs, weapons and even engage in human trafficking. Like a business seeking to develop a recognizable name, gangs use their own brands and signs, including graffiti, tattoos and clothing, to build gang loyalty and to hold neighborhoods hostage.

As a state, we must be just as organized, determined and methodic in our efforts to stop the spread of gangs and to dismantle these groups of dangerous felons.

As your attorney general, keeping our communities, neighborhoods and streets safe is a top priority. We are making progress in our overall strategy for stopping, and eventually reversing, the growth of gangs and gang violence, and I look forward to working with leaders in our state to develop prevention solutions that complement our law enforcement efforts.

With the passage of the anti-gang legislation and with a comprehensive strategy to counter gang influence, I am confident we will succeed.

Bill McCollum is Florida's attorney general.

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