LTC 76-2002
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. 76.20C2
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From:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. GOnZalez\ . n-~
City Manager 0 q/'J" D
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT GRANT
Date: March 18, 2002
To:
Subject:
This Letter to the Commission is to advise of the Police Department's participation in a
Research and Development Project Grant regarding juvenile gang activity.
In 1987, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency (OJJDP) began supporting a
research and development project to design a comprehensive approach to reduce and
prevent youth gang violence. The Gang-Free Prevention, Intervention, and
Suppression Program is a federally funded project, which has been successful in Mesa,
Arizona for the past seven years.
The primary goal of this project is to reduce gang violence. The secondary goal is a
more preventative approach to reducing future gang violence.
This project is a cooperative effort between the Miami-Dade County School Police, the
Miami-Dade County Police Department, the City of Hialeah Police Department, the
Miami Beach Police Department and the University of Miami. The University of Miami
was hired as the research partners and will be responsible for completing the final
report, which will include all details about the target selection neighborhood.
The Miami-Dade School Police will be responsible for the administration of the grant
under the auspices of a steering committee composed of members from each
Department. At this time, the decisions have not been made regarding the allocation of
monies. The City will not be responsible for any matching funds.
The five core strategies of this grant are the following:
1. Community Mobilization-involvement of local citizens, community groups, and
the coordination of all local and county services.
2. Provision of Opportunities-The development of a variety of specific education,
training, and employment programs targeted at gang-involved youth.
3. Social Intervention and Street Outreach-Youth-serving agencies, schools,
grass roots groups, faith organizations, "reaching out" and acting as links among
gang-involved youth, their families, and the conventional world and needed
services.
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Letter to the Commission
March 18, 2002
Page 2
4. Suppression-Formal and informal social control procedures, including close
supervision or monitoring of gang youth by agencies of the criminal justice
system and also by community-based agencies, schools, and grass roots
groups.
5. Organizational Change and Development- Development and implementation
of policies and procedures that result in the most effective use of available and
potential resources within and across agencies to better address the gang
problem.
The target site must be in an area or community with a high level of gang-related
violence.
Our Police Department will be responsible for:
.:. Tracking all gang related crime/activity and
.:. Providing at least one police officer either full-time or part-time to assist with the
project.
I will keep you advised as the grant funding formula is finalized by the steering
committee. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
JIJ a
JMGr:AM:RM:CP:PS:MMS
F:\POLl\TECHSERV\POLlCIES\COM_MEMO\gang grant research project.ltc.doc