County-based groups could take on gangs

State Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion this week gave state legislative leaders a formal plan for combating gangs through units that would replace the scandal-ridden Metro Gang Strike Force he abolished in July.

Rather than a single multi-jurisdictional strike force, the plan prescribes five county-based units called "violent crime enforcement teams." They'd fight gang crime with the support of a statewide umbrella unit that would gather, analyze and disseminate information.

Officials hoped to have the new units in place by early 2010. They would be funded by a mix of local dollars and $1.9 million in state funds administered through the Department of Public Safety.

Designed to avoid the type of misconduct that brought down the Metro Gang Strike Force, the new units would have increased accountability and more oversight, with an assistant county attorney assigned to each team and greater monitoring by the Public Safety Department. In addition, each of the county teams would be overseen by an advisory board.

Campion's proposal, which does not require legislative action, would appear to deal with some of the central concerns identified by the state legislative auditor and a panel Campion named to investigate the Metro Gang Strike Force.

They said that the Strike Force lacked accountability because it was freestanding, not accountable to any law enforcement agency, had insufficient auditing, had an advisory board that didn't exercise much oversight, and didn't have a prosecutor assigned specifically to watch over the unit's cases and tactics.

Investigators found that officers took home seized evidence for personal use, mishandled funds, failed in many cases to make prosecutable cases, and potentially violated the civil rights of individuals from whom property and money were seized.

In November, federal officials described plans to get the Justice Department to fund a new "Safe Streets" task force in the Twin Cities to fight drugs, guns and gangs. It is to consist of FBI agents and some other federal agents, along with Minneapolis and St. Paul police.

Campion said he believed that the local enforcement teams partly funded by the state would work in concert with, rather than overlap, the federal initiative

"My suspicion is that they [the federal task force] are going to be working at a higher level, probably have some interstate, maybe some international, considerations," Campion said, "while we are going to [focus] this effort on a local level, on criminal enterprises that cause violent crime problems in local communities."

FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson said Tuesday that Campion's plan "sounds like a logical complement to the mission we're addressing with the Safe Streets task force. We support the Department of Public Safety in their proactive efforts to address this level of violence, and we will coordinate with them as appropriate."

Five-county effort

Campion said numerous details have yet to be worked out, including how the statewide analysis unit will be staffed or operate. He said he was still seeking more input.

Two legislative leaders said Tuesday they had not seen Campion's proposal, and a third said she had gotten a letter but had yet to review it.

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said his office worked with Campion on the plan, though Stanek said he had not seen Campion's final document.

"I can't speak for all the chiefs and sheriffs," he said, "but I support what he sent over to the Legislature." He praised Campion for making information-sharing "key to a metrowide violent crime strategy."

Stanek said Campion's proposal dovetails well with the Hennepin County program he helped set up in mid-summer with the support of suburban police departments to deal with violent crime.