Pubdate: Mon, 31 Oct 2005
Source: Blade, The (Toledo, OH)
Copyright: 2005 The Blade
Contact:  http://www.toledoblade.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/48
Author: Jennifer Feehan, Blade Staff Writer

LIMA CITIZENS UNITED TO SUBDUE GANGS

Participants Say Effort Called On Broadest Array Of Agencies And Institutions

LIMA, Ohio - Mary Williamson watched news reports of the riot in 
North Toledo two weeks ago and wished she could share with Toledo a 
little bit of what her city has learned about confronting gang violence.

"I think Lima has come up out of the ashes," said Mrs. Williamson, a 
lifetime Lima resident who stood by her city even when gangs were 
terrorizing neighborhoods in the 1990s.

Lima officials say the key to their success at reducing gang problems 
is the fact that no one expected one agency to solve the difficulties.

The city police and Allen County sheriff's office were involved, but 
so were the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office. The city schools, the 
courts, social service agencies, churches, and a strong network of 
neighborhood associations literally joined hands to get the gangs off 
the streets.

"It's a classic example of what can happen if all parties come to the 
table and bring the resources to it," Lima police Chief Greg Garlock said.

"By everyone working together as a unit, it shows the wannabes or the 
perpetrators: You're not coming into my neighborhood and destroying 
my neighborhood or taking it over - and they got the message, thank 
God," said Mrs. Williamson, who now serves as president of Lima-Allen 
County Neighborhoods in Partnership.

Chief Garlock is quick to point out that this blue-collar city of 
about 40,000 people still has its share of crime, but gang members 
once responsible for drive-by shootings, arsons, and drug dealing are 
mostly in prison or lying low.

Law enforcement officials, looking to keep things that way, joined 
forces Thursday for a daylong warrant sweep that resulted in the 
arrests of some 25 Lima-area residents - most on drug charges.

Chief Garlock admits he doesn't know what would happen if a radical 
group like the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, whose presence 
triggered rioting in Toledo, came to his city.

"I don't know that I want to assume that the relationship we began 
building 10 years ago is the same that it is today," Chief Garlock 
said. "We still do have concerns where we still see the influence out 
of Detroit that comes down here and some from Fort Wayne that may be 
affiliated with gangs in Chicago."

The relative calm in Lima today is a far cry from what Deborah Kovac 
Rump, a former assistant U.S. attorney, remembers from when she was 
making regular trips from Toledo in the 1990s to work with local, 
state, and federal law enforcement agencies to prosecute Lima gang members.

"There were armed home invasions. There were rapes. There were 
arsons. It was very violent. It was a rough time in Lima," Ms. Rump said.

Gang members would "come in from Detroit, take over houses and 
neighborhoods, and sell dope, sell guns, sell women. In Lima, though, 
the attitude [from police and the community] was never, 'We can't do 
it.' It was always, 'What do you need?' "

She recalled a roundup of violent gang members in which police raided 
a drug dealer who had more than three dozen guns stashed in his 
house. The neighbors came out banging pots and pans on the porch and 
gave the officers a standing ovation.

"They were so thrilled that people listened to them and took back 
their neighborhood," Ms. Rump said. "Everybody in Lima came together. 
It wasn't just a law enforcement effort. It was a community effort. 
And it wasn't just the sticks; it was the carrots as well."

Four-term Mayor David Berger traces the roots of the communitywide 
effort back to 1992, when a local Korean store was firebombed the 
night of the Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles. He assembled a group 
of clergy for a news conference to call for order and discovered none 
of the clergy knew one another.

"That really stimulated a process here where it became clear we had 
to build some relationships," Mayor Berger said.

Lima became involved in a national program known as Study Circles, in 
which diverse groups of citizens got together to discuss race, crime, 
and youth. It turned out to be a 10-year process that has had lasting 
effects. And Mayor Berger said the city never stopped looking for solutions.

"It was everything from passing ordinances about graffiti to 
mobilizing the neighborhood associations to building partnerships 
with the police department so that law-abiding people were known to 
the police," the mayor said. "Often police only interact with 
criminals. Everyone else is kind of there, but are unknown. One of 
the virtues of community policing was it built positive relationships 
with officers and neighborhood folks who helped with identifying 
lawbreakers and nailing them."

Chief Garlock said his officers still do some community policing, 
although federal funding that enabled Lima to put eight officers in 
six neighborhoods in the 1990s has dried up. The focus now is on 
homeland security.

"We don't want to minimize the importance of [homeland security], 
however   I don't get calls from people concerned about an al-Qaeda 
cell next door. I do get calls about crack houses," the chief said. 
"With a tank plant and a refinery and a chemical plant [in Lima], we 
work very hard at those security-related things, and we need to. But 
what is tearing up a neighborhood, destroying the fiber of that, 
oftentimes are those drug complaints we're receiving."

Ms. Williamson, whose south-end neighborhood association has worked 
to stop illegal dumping in the area and raze dilapidated houses, said 
some neighborhood groups died out when gang activity ended, but about 
15 are active today. She thinks they need to remain vigilant.

"The police cannot solve the problems by itself," she said. "The 
police are really just an extension of the neighborhoods. They are 
there to protect and serve, but the neighbors have to do their part 
to help them."

Mayor Berger is proud how his city united, but he declined even to 
suggest that Toledo could learn from Lima's example.

"I don't think I want to preach to anybody. These are different 
issues, and you just need to stay focused on them, certainly as we 
did," he said. "It wasn't always pleasant, but it was absolutely necessary."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman