Tom Porter
mpbn.net
Maine - They quote the FBI's 2011 gang threat assessment, which has been temporarily removed from the bureau's website. A call to the FBI to ask about the source of the numbers was not returned by airtime. Nevertheless, Republican Rep. Amy Volk of Scarborough told public hearing today that Maine should be worried. "When we hear the term criminal street gang we think of Boston, but more likely we think of New York or East LA where nearly every kid either belongs to a gang or knows someone else who does," said Volk, who's the lead sponsor of LD 1707 -- An Act to Define, Prevent and Suppress Gang Activity in the State of Maine.
Most people probably don't associate the predominantly rural state of Maine with street gang activity. But, according to some legislators and law enforcement officials, there may now be as many as 4,000 active gang members here in Maine. And Maine lawmakers are taking notice.
They quote the FBI's 2011 gang threat assessment, which has been temporarily removed from the bureau's website. A call to the FBI to ask about the source of the numbers was not returned by airtime. Nevertheless, Republican Rep. Amy Volk of Scarborough told public hearing today that Maine should be worried.
"When we hear the term criminal street gang we think of Boston, but more likely we think of New York or East LA where nearly every kid either belongs to a gang or knows someone else who does," said Volk, who's the lead sponsor of LD 1707 -- An Act to Define, Prevent and Suppress Gang Activity in the State of Maine.
"The thing is, gangs are not content to stay in one geographic area," Volk said. "When there is pressure on criminals in a given area their natural instinct is to seek out a place to operate where there is less pressure, where they may be able to fly under radar, so to speak."
Places like Maine, which according to Eric Berry, is an appealing destination for out-of-state gang members. "Gang members already see Maine as a lucrative drug market, " he said. "On top of that, the fact that there isn't any legislation right now that deals with their type of activity here in the state, this is a place where people want to come."
Berry is president of the Maine Gang Task Force. He's also a corrections officer at Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland. He says the FBI report claims more than 30 percent of crimes in Maine are gang-related. "The market is so lucrative that they can get 5 to 10 times the value on the drugs that they're selling up here in this state, than they can back down in New York or Boston. For them it makes it more than a good idea to come up here and do business."
Proponents of LD 1707 want Maine to follow the example of New Hampshire, which passed anti-gang legislation in 2008. The controversial bill requires courts to impose enhanced sentences on gang members and to make it a crime to solicit children to join a street gang.
"Too harsh," say civil liberties and prisoners rights advocates. They say the measure does not tackle the root cause of the problem.
"To say that this legislation is problematic is a monumental understatement," said Sarah Moon, who is with the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, or M-PAC. "Our members are deeply concerned with any law that incarcerates adults or minors for asking, 'Will you join my street gang?' There are volumes of research data that show 'enhanced sentencing, and upgraded crime classification including but not limited to new crimes and mandatory sentences, do not deter crime.'"
She's concerned the law could lead to unfair targeting to racial minorities, given that much of the publicity around possible gang activity in Maine focuses on Asian, Sudanese and Somali populations. And proponents are taking such criticism into account. They've amended the bill to focus less on penalties and more on creation of a statewide system to share information on gang members who've been convicted.
Eric Berry says this will help ensure law enforcement agencies are all on the same page. "You're going to have to be convicted of the crime anyway. Once you're convicted, once you did the activity, that information should be able to be presented to a judge, by a prosecutor, by police officers, this is what it's about," Berry said. "It's not just that this person was selling drugs in this neighborhood, this person is a member of a criminal organization."
Berry says the amendment would also help prevent people from being wrongly identified as gang members. "It also protects people from being subjected to misidentification and that type of thing when you have this type of gang identification criteria," he said.
He says such gang identification processes have been used by many other states for years. "Gangs are not the 4-H Club, they're not the Boy Scouts," Berry said. "In fact on a personal level I've actually reached and contacted the president of the United Bikers as an example. These groups are doing Toys for Tots and stuff like that. This is not about them, they're not doing criminal activity."
Such reassurances are not good enough for Eric Fuller, who chairs the Maine motorcyclists Political Action Committee. He's concerned that some law-abiding motocycle clubs may be wrongly identified as criminal biker gangs. "Just because a person wears an insignia, that is still free speech in the United States," Fuller said.
Even with the amendment, Fuller says the bill raises real concerns over First Amendment rights.
http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemId/20013/Default.aspx
"Too harsh," say civil liberties and prisoners rights advocates. They say the measure does not tackle the root cause of the problem.
"To say that this legislation is problematic is a monumental understatement," said Sarah Moon, who is with the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, or M-PAC. "Our members are deeply concerned with any law that incarcerates adults or minors for asking, 'Will you join my street gang?' There are volumes of research data that show 'enhanced sentencing, and upgraded crime classification including but not limited to new crimes and mandatory sentences, do not deter crime.'"
She's concerned the law could lead to unfair targeting to racial minorities, given that much of the publicity around possible gang activity in Maine focuses on Asian, Sudanese and Somali populations. And proponents are taking such criticism into account. They've amended the bill to focus less on penalties and more on creation of a statewide system to share information on gang members who've been convicted.
Eric Berry says this will help ensure law enforcement agencies are all on the same page. "You're going to have to be convicted of the crime anyway. Once you're convicted, once you did the activity, that information should be able to be presented to a judge, by a prosecutor, by police officers, this is what it's about," Berry said. "It's not just that this person was selling drugs in this neighborhood, this person is a member of a criminal organization."
Berry says the amendment would also help prevent people from being wrongly identified as gang members. "It also protects people from being subjected to misidentification and that type of thing when you have this type of gang identification criteria," he said.
He says such gang identification processes have been used by many other states for years. "Gangs are not the 4-H Club, they're not the Boy Scouts," Berry said. "In fact on a personal level I've actually reached and contacted the president of the United Bikers as an example. These groups are doing Toys for Tots and stuff like that. This is not about them, they're not doing criminal activity."
Such reassurances are not good enough for Eric Fuller, who chairs the Maine motorcyclists Political Action Committee. He's concerned that some law-abiding motocycle clubs may be wrongly identified as criminal biker gangs. "Just because a person wears an insignia, that is still free speech in the United States," Fuller said.
Even with the amendment, Fuller says the bill raises real concerns over First Amendment rights.
http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemId/20013/Default.aspx