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Mr. Poling supported the creation of a definition of "good cause." He thanked Mr. Laue and other board <br />members for their service. <br />Mr. Zelenka suggested the CRB become involved in planning for the proposed Hate Crimes Conference <br />to be sponsored by the Human Rights and Police commissions. <br />B. WORK SESSION: <br />Criminal Street Gang Presentation <br />The council was joined by Police Chief Pete Kerns and Detective Greg Harvey. Chief Kerns first <br />provided a brief update on Occupy Eugene. <br />Chief Kerns prefaced the presentation by noting that presenter Detective Harvey was an expert in the field <br />and had been involved in many investigations of street gang crime, including some with interstate <br />implications. Chief Kerns said street gangs often involved people of color and street gangs in <br />communities larger than Eugene were often race -based organizations. While that was not the case in the <br />Eugene - Springfield area, he acknowledged many people made that assumption. He also acknowledged <br />that people of color were disproportionately represented in local street gangs. Chief Kerns reported that <br />the Eugene Police Department (EPD) had reached out to the Communities of Color to discuss the issue. <br />The EPD found that those residents feared that officers would engage in racial profiling due to the <br />assumption gangs were race - based, and they were concerned that people of color would be stereotyped. <br />As a result, Detective Harvey was providing training to the schools, media, and a variety of other groups <br />and staff had meet with executives of the local police agencies and other service agencies to raise <br />awareness of the issues involved with the goal of holding a summit in 2012 to produce community <br />strategies to address local street gang crime. <br />Detective Harvey led the council through a PowerPoint presentation entitled Street Gangs that provided <br />information on gang activity in the Eugene - Springfield metropolitan area. He emphasized the importance <br />of community partnerships in fighting street gang activity as well as the importance of making contact <br />with youth who might be targeted for gang membership at an early age. The presentation commenced <br />with a video of a "jump -in" gang initiation rite that occurred in a Trainsong neighborhood park. <br />Detective Harvey defined a gang, noted the different geographical levels at which gangs were organized, <br />and identified national gangs represented at the local level. <br />Detective Harvey acknowledged gang numbers were increasing but the department was not sure why; he <br />suggested media glorification of gang lifestyles could be a contributing factor. He stressed the youth of <br />those being recruited and the intergenerational nature of gang membership. Detective Harvey reported <br />that gang activity was extremely mobile and many national gang "sets" were represented locally. <br />Frequently local gangs had a "mother chapter" in another city that provided them with direct support and <br />stayed in touch using social media. <br />Detective Harvey emphasized that gang violence could affect innocent people as well as gang members <br />because gang violence often occurred in public places. He shared a list of crimes committed by local <br />gangs, which included prostitution, drug dealing, home invasions, assaults, bank robberies, attempted <br />murder, and murder. Detective Harvey then shared examples of gang graffiti and encouraged residents to <br />report graffiti. <br />Ms. Ortiz thanked Detective Harvey. She was very concerned about the issue of street gangs. She asked <br />when gangs evolved from Aryan -type gangs such the Free Souls to the street gangs the EPD was now <br />MINUTES— Eugene City Council October 17, 2011 Page 4 <br />Work Session <br />