Police see progress against violence

To try to stop violence, Omaha police are taking aim at gang members and their guns.

It's still early in their latest efforts, but officials say progress is being made.

“We made some significant arrests of folks we know have potential to cause the gun crimes,” said Lt. Kerry Neumann, head of the Police Department's gang unit.

“Getting the known violent offenders off the street is the key to reducing the homicide rate and the number of gun crimes,” he said.

Problems began to surface well before March 17 the most violent day in north Omaha in the past year, when seven people were wounded in five shootings.

Those shootings followed a month and a half during which four members of the 40th Avenue gang were gunned down by rival gang members.

Three of those young men were killed between Feb. 6 and March 7. The fourth, Jestun R. Haynie, was critically wounded March 17.

Haynie's shooting, in which two young girls also were injured, was the first of five that occurred in an eight-hour span and prompted stepped-up police patrols in north Omaha.

Omaha police, the State Patrol, Douglas County sheriff's deputies and federal agencies, including the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service, flooded the area, seeking to take potentially violent offenders and their guns off the streets.

In March, at least 21 people were arrested in connection with gun-related crimes, four of whom were younger than 18. Two dozen guns were recovered. At least 14 of the arrests were gang-related, Neumann said.

Neumann said a multiagency operation also was carried out April 1, rounding up known gang members with outstanding misdemeanor warrants.

Neumann said 10 arrests were made that night, including two gun arrests.

He said such operations are a three-pronged approach designed to pick up people with outstanding warrants, get police into neighborhoods and help put residents at ease.

“We want to reduce crime and reduce the fear of crime among the citizens, which is a key element of the Omaha Police Department's policing philosophy,” Neumann said.

Neumann said police carry out such high-visibility enforcement operations as needed. Extra officers are seen on the streets. They conduct traffic stops. They go to homes to serve arrest warrants.

“It is one of those things where we can't sit back in our easy chair and let normal routine patrol have an impact on reducing that,” Neumann said of the violence.

“We have to have some kind of noticeable response. I know firsthand, being out on the streets, it is impressive.”

Police Chief Alex Hayes said the beefed-up patrols and other intervention and prevention techniques are tools for disrupting the cycle of violent crime.

Solving the larger problems behind the violence will require effort from groups across the community, Hayes said.

“It is a long-term problem that will take a long-term solution. Throwing a bunch of officers at a situation won't solve something that has been a problem since the early '90s,” the chief said.

After the March 17 shootings, Capt. Tim Carmody, head of the Police Department's northeast precinct, voiced worry about the Omaha Public Schools' coming spring break, March 22 through 26.

There was one fatal shooting a domestic situation in which a 48-year-old man killed his girlfriend. A 19-year-old man also was shot but did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

“We had the stepped-up enforcement with spring break coming up,” Carmody said. “We wanted to set the pace, let the people responsible (for the violence) know this isn't acceptable. … We want them looking over their shoulders constantly. They have two options: Follow the rules or move on.”

Taking guns off the streets has been a Police Department focus for some time. And the number of federal indictments in Nebraska for gun crimes rose from 146 in 2008 to 152 in 2009.

Ray Fidone, Nebraska director of the federal Project Safe Neighborhoods program, said officials want to take “the worst of the worst off the street.”

When guns are confiscated, they can't be used to commit crimes. But guns still find their way into the wrong hands, sometimes through what are known as “straw purchases.”

That was the case with a 27-year-old woman sentenced in October to four years in federal prison for buying guns for gang members.

Sheena James bought guns for several men, including a known Crip and convicted felon named Deanthony Johnson. He was found shot to death in a car in September 2008. With him was one of the guns James had bought.

Fidone, who retired from OPD in 2004, said gun violence in the city declined last year, although that's hard to appreciate when violent outbursts such as the one on March 17 occur.

Fidone pointed to statistics: 20 gun homicides in 2009, down from 34 in 2008; number of “shots fired” calls down 7 percent in that period; reported gun assaults down 5 percent.

But Fidone said gun owners need to be more aware of where their guns are and do a better job securing them. He said nearly 1 of every 8 guns seized by police in 2009 had been reported stolen.

“Someone isn't watching where their guns are; either they are stolen, or the guns are in a position where they can be taken and then returned. We encourage people to lock up their guns and know where they are,” Fidone said.

Despite the decrease in overall gun violence numbers, days such as March 17 are frustrating for law enforcement officials.

“The ongoing battles, retaliation after retaliation Ben Gray's group can only do so much,” Fidone said, speaking of Impact One and Omaha City Councilman Ben Gray, a founder of the anti-violence group.

“It's a constant battle to figure out how to disrupt that back-and-forth cycle,” he said.

Neumann said police have been getting help from citizens who have seen and reported armed groups of people to police, and they need that help to continue.

Tips to Omaha Crime Stoppers leading to an arrest and a confiscated firearm can be worth $500. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers, 444-STOP (7867); text “OPD” and the tip to 274637 (CRIMES); or submit a tip at www.OmahaCrimeStoppers.net.

Contact the writer:

444-1279, jason.kuiper@owh.com

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