THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2007
Township Forms Gang Task Force
By ANDREA ZELINSKI
Journal Reporter
Officials throughout Leyden Township are looking to team up against neighborhood gangs.
Leading the pack are Franklin Park and Northlake, the two towns that house East and West Leyden high schools.
The idea originally came from Brad Stephens, township supervisor and Rosemont village trustee. He suggested the township assemble a gang task force during a Leyden Township board meeting late last year, noting that many of the trouble makers in one town are coming from another one nearby.
For example, he noted that one of the youths involved in a shooting near the southern edge of Leyden Township in late November may have talked on the phone to someone saying at a Rosemont hotel. If the two departments had stronger avenues of communication, they could better react to crime township wide.
Stephens said he hopes the task force will learn to better share information across town borders throughout the use of a database system to deal with suspected gang members and overall trouble makers.
He said he will likely take a back seat approach to the group as the village representatives take over the meetings.
The task force is still in its embryonic stages, said Stephens. It has only held one meeting and its members are still deciding exactly what it wants to accomplish together and how.
The task force is composed of 18 city officers throughout Leyden Township, including representatives from Rosemont, Schiller Park, Franklin Park, Norridge, Park Ridge, River Grove, Elmwood Park, North Lake and Melrose Park.
Stephens said the group met for the first time in December and he expects the group to meet again in February.
Though the group will work to curb gang activity, Stephens said most of the problems see smaller crimes and trouble, like people using spray paint to "tag" or mark up street signs with their gang sign.
Cook County Police Spokesman Penny Mateck pointed out that while gangs are very territorial, they tend to move around a lot.
"Our gang and narcotics officers know gang members are very transient," she said, explaining that they may live in one town but do business in a neighboring town.
She said Cook County Police was teaming up with the Leyden Township gang task force.
Back in Leyden Township, Stephens said gang affiliation is a popular method for individuals to protect themselves, even if they aren't hard core members of the gang.