“Gangs” and “Illegal Immigration”!
I may not have won on the ballot, but I did win on leadership and the issues!
“Rogers solidifies 287(g) agreement.”
This headline was posted in the Benton County Daily Record on Wednesday September 26, 2007. In 2006, my campaign for Sheriff highlighted the importance of participation in the 287(g) program. This program and others like it, give cities and counties the necessary tools to suppress gangs, illegal immigrants involved in crime, and drug abuse.
We introduced the 287 g federal program during my last campaign. The program and my desire to get our local law enforcement agencies involved was a primary position on which I built my campaign. Law enforcement in the area, including the current leadership of the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, did not know that this program existed. Since the introduction of the program, almost every law enforcement agency in Northwest Arkansas has applied to participate. This demonstrates that I still have the influential leadership that successfully guided the Benton County Sheriff’s Office from the inefficient organization that it was in 1988 to the leading law enforcement agency that it was when I retired.
Issues like gangs, illegal immigrants involved with crime, and drug abuse bother me. I’m concerned about the direction our country is going in regarding these issues. I don’t want our children or grandchildren to worry about the future. I want to make the neighborhoods and schools of Benton County safe and free of gangs, illegal immigrants involved in criminal activity, and drug abuse. “Attacking this problem requires strong leadership in the Office of Sheriff. I have proven my ability to lead. I am offering the Citizens of Benton County that leadership for the future.”
GANGS:
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)
KNOW THIS: “When I am sworn into office at 12:01am on January 1, 2009, gangs in Benton County will feel our presence. By the end of my first two-year term, it will be difficult to find gangs or their members in our schools, cities, or county. Gang members will either be in jail, in prison, or on their way out of our county.”
“I just haven’t seen any gangs!” I commonly hear this response when talking about the existence of gangs in Northwest Arkansas. Truth is, you won’t see them, just what they leave behind. Let me explain.
When driving through Little Rock or Tulsa, do you see any gangs? How about when you’re traveling in L.A. or Chicago? See any gangs? Probably not! Yet, these are major cities known for their gang activity. We don’t see the gangs but we do see what they leave behind to mark their territory. Graffiti!
Gangs don’t work in the open as exposed organizations. They are skilled in “guerrilla warfare”. Gangs initiate a crime by picking a target and carefully executing a plan. Odds are, if you see a gang, you are about to become a victim!
Secrecy is a gang’s biggest ally.We do exactly what they want us to when we avoid talking publicly about their existence. Community leaders are afraid to acknowledge gang activity. They fear that by admitting the problem, the growth and economy of the community will suffer. Ignoring the problem will do just that. Secrecy and refusing to acknowledge gang activity allows them to grow and developed.
Fighting the demons of Gangs!
In 1993, I publicly stated that there were signs of gangs in our county and the most prevalent signs were in Rogers. The then Mayor of Rogers and the editor of a local newspaper didn’t like what I had to say. In time, the City of Rogers did confirm there was at least one organized gang that had infiltrated their community.
Times have changed and so have attitudes. Recently, the Mayor of Rogers, Steve Womack, publicly declared, at a mens Republican meeting in Bella Vista, that there are gangs in his city. Womack continued to say that his first duty as Mayor was to “protect his citizens and their property”. This Mayor should be commended! Although there is new leadership and a change in attitude about gangs, the time spent getting there has allowed the gangs to grow. I recently received information from a Rogers Police Officer documenting that the gang problem has escalated from one gang in 1993 to over 42 known gangs today!
The problem is far from being eliminated. The Sheriff, the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the county, must be assertive and publicly address the issue of gangs, giving support to our cities and towns in their fight to get rid of them.
This is what happens when we choose to do nothing!
In the last year, Benton County had:
• Two murders;
1. A father of five children; May 2006
2. A 17-year-old boy; December 2006
• A Rogers Police Officer was shot; October 2006
• A Bentonville School recorded a gang initiation known as a “jump in” (the physical beating of a someone who wants to be initiated into a gang) inside the school; March 2007
• Federal ICE Agents in the month of September of this year (2007) executed a sting operation and out of 200 felony warrants, 41 illegal aliens (mostly gang members) were arrested. The warrants were for crimes other than being in this country illegally.
All of the above happened because of gangs and/or illegal immigration.
The County Sheriff is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the County. The Sheriff must support all law enforcement agencies and lead innovative initiatives to reduce crime.
The Sheriff must have the vision to see changes that are occurring in the county, the leadership to act before being forced to, and the integrity to act on an issue even when it is not popular!
Isn’t that the primary responsibility of the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of Benton County? The responsibility of the Sheriff you elect?
Thinking back to 1993, I try to imagine what the number of gangs would be if the media and others had not labeled me the “Sheriff Who Cried Wolf”. I also wonder how many gangs there will be in the future if our Chief Law Enforcement Officer fails to acknowledge that gangs and illegal immigration exists!
Time is running out, this is why I am running for Sheriff!
SUGGESTED SITE ON GANGS
This web site is a very important site for you and your family to visit. It is full of information that will demonstrate the importance of having aggressive law enforcement. A good starting place is in the fifth paragraph. In this paragraph you will see several blue highlighted references. The first one is “gangs”. Click it to start your journey and begin to understand gangs and what they can do to your community.