Bill tackles gang problem

From the Queens Courier:

The New York State Legislature hopes to end gang activity with the help of newly passed anti-gang legislation.

“They are a constant and serious threat to the quality of life in our communities and the safety our children and families,” said State Senator Frank Padavan, who serves the neighborhoods in Northeast Queens like Flushing, Whitestone and Bayside. “This legislation addresses the problem of gang activity at the root with prevention and increased criminal penalties for gang-related activity.”

The State Senate and the Assembly passed the bill on Thursday, June 24, designed to curb gang violence across the state by creating a “gang assessment, intervention, prevention and suppression program” in New York.

The measure would give state law enforcement authorities and local prosecutors a statewide tool to investigate, prosecute and prevent gang activity.

The gang program would allow the New York State Police Superintendent to work with local and federal law enforcement to develop a plan to suppress gang activity and create a centralized location where information relating to gangs operating in the state will be kept.

“It is clear that we have a gang problem in New York State,” said Assemblymember Jeffrion L. Aubry, who serves the neighborhoods of Corona, Corona Heights and East Elmhurst, “particularly in Queens, especially along Roosevelt Avenue.”

It would also authorize the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) Commissioner to award grants to district attorneys to help stop gang activity. As well as require the forfeiture of financial gains from criminal gang activities be placed in a fund.

“It’s about time,” said Arnaldo A. Salinas, senior director of the Guardian Angels, a non-profit volunteer organization that provides public safety and education programs. “They are a day late and a dollar short. Gangs have been a problem for a long time.”

Salinas pointed out that in Queens, the members of the gangs that try to rule streets are from Latin American countries like Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. He said his main concern is that gangs like the Latin Kings, Los Trinitarios and MS-13 recruit young kids to do their dirty work. That’s why he thinks that it is important for parents to get involved.

Pols want Dave to go

From 1010WINS:

Calls for Gov. David Paterson to abandon his election bid mounted Thursday as the state attorney general announced he would investigate whether the administration or state police committed a crime in talking to a woman who had filed a domestic violence report against a top aide to the governor.

Paterson's top criminal justice Cabinet member resigned Thursday over the burgeoning scandal, saying conduct by the state police was "distressing" for an administration that has devoted itself to reducing domestic violence.

Elected officials and other candidates for office clamored for Paterson to end his campaign, formally launched just five days ago, as the turmoil mushroomed around longtime adviser David Johnson. A police report detailed in The New York Times discusses a confrontation between Johnson and a woman over her Halloween costume.

The New York Times reported Wednesday on court papers showing a phone call between state police and the woman. Paterson's office acknowledges he talked to the woman but says she placed the call, and a spokesman for the governor denied anyone tried to keep the woman from pursuing a domestic violence case.

The state police said in a news release that they won't comment on any aspect of the case during the investigation by the office of Andrew Cuomo, the popular attorney general whom many would like to see run as the Democratic candidate for governor instead of Paterson.

The Paterson administration asked Cuomo's office to investigate the matter, and the attorney general's office said it would look into whether crimes or other wrongdoing were committed. The state police said Cuomo asked the agency not to open its own internal probe.