I will have an article in the October 2014 issue of San Francisco Magazine all about Oakland's Operation Ceasefire, the city's current violence prevention campaign, a collaborative effort among law enforcement, churches, service providers, former victims and former perpetrators. The piece looks at how Ceasefire works, whether it works, and whether it can survive, financially and politically. Comprehensive though the story is, some things could not be elaborated on, including custom notifications, one of the ways the Ceasefire partners communicate with the men they believe commit most of the violence here. So here is something I wrote about how these often tense meetings go down:
Retaliatory - Custom Notifications and Operation Ceasefire
When
we have those painful stretches in Oakland, those weeks when there are
three, even four killings in quick succession, often they are the
result of retaliation. Meant to stanch that flow of retaliatory
blood, Operation Ceasefire's most urgent mode of communication with
the city's most violent, and its most vulnerable, is called a "custom
notification."
Unlike
call-ins, meetings which a dozen or more gang members attend,
and which can take months to plan, custom notifications usually
involve one potential victim or suspect, a person whom intelligence
indicates is either in imminent danger of being shot, or who is
planning to shoot. Custom notifications might take place on a street
corner, in an apartment, at the jail. At these small, seemingly
impromptu meetings, one or two highly-trained police officers, along
with a probation officer, approach the suspect. Sometimes a street
outreach worker who knows the suspect accompanies the officers.
Usually the first part of the message is specific: You
are in danger.
Or, We know
your sister got killed last week. We know you or your friends are
gearing up to retaliate. We are watching you.
Then
the Ceasfire message comes: We
love you, we care about you. But this city cannot take any more
violence. It must stop. If you help us, if you pull back, we can help
you change your life. But if you or your associates strike, we will strike harder, and
you will be gone, prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law, no deals possible, sent
to the farthest away prison for as long as possible. The time is now
to get out of the life, and we can help you. We have services -- job
training, legal advice, substance abuse counseling -- whatever you
need to exit this dangerous life alive and free.
There have been
48 custom notifications in Oakland since late 2012.
Also see: Death & the Mother: inside an Oakland gang call-in
Also, the October 2014 San Francisco article is out - Guns Down. Don't Shoot
Also, the October 2014 San Francisco article is out - Guns Down. Don't Shoot
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