By Khalida Sarwari
San Jose Councilwoman Nora Campos will submit a proposal Friday to the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force that would implement a number of measures to stem violence, including renewing gang injunctions in the city’s high-crime neighborhoods.
“The reason why this is so important is because many of our neighborhoods have been left behind,” Campos said.
The proposal was co-authored by Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa.
An injunction is already in place in the crime-riddled Santee neighborhood in central San Jose, but the proposal would impose injunctions in other problem neighborhoods, according to Campos’ office. The injunctions give the Police Department authority to remove known gang members from certain neighborhoods or prevent them from conducting certain activities.
The proposal also employs the use of the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force’s Hotspot Exercise, which ensures that resources are focused in areas of greatest need. This work would be done in conjunction with the Police Department and community-based charities focused on gang prevention like Catholic Charities.
“This proposal would say, let’s refocus on areas that are high in gang violence and put limited resources there,” Campos said.
Expanding the Summer Safe Initiative job training and placement program for teenagers and young adults is another highlight of the proposal. The program was launched last summer with the goal to get young people into jobs that will change their lives or give them a career.
Campos said it would include a component that would provide young people with opportunities to gain skills useful for a long-term job.
“We had the Summer Safe Initiative job training this past summer and it proved to be a great model,” Campos said. “I’m asking we add another component that would help young men and women or students to learn skills that they can use in the future.”
Finally, the proposal would improve accountability of the Police Department and community-based organizations with which the city works to combat gang violence by ensuring that statistics provided by the Police Department are accurate, Campos said.
In response to the proposal, Mayor Chuck Reed said many of the ideas have already been implemented and are demonstrated in the Task Force’s programs and reduction in gang violence over the past two years.
“We’ll continue to do the things that work,” Reed said.
A spokesman with the Police Department declined to comment on the proposal today.
The proposal will be officially submitted to the Task Force Friday morning. Once approved by the Task Force, it will be considered by the City Council.