Looking For Trouble -- Kirkland's New Police Gang Unit Aims At Stopping Problems Before They Get Out Of Hand

If you've been in Kirkland on a Friday or Saturday night, you may have seen them. Cops in tennis shoes, jeans and a faded dark-blue shirt. Get a little closer and you'll notice the Kirkland Gang Unit patch on the shirt. And if you're like most folks, you'll say in a questioning sort of way: "Kirkland has a gang unit?"

It's a Saturday evening and Michael, a 17-year-old Kirkland youth, is sitting with his hands cuffed behind his back, gazing out the window of an unmarked police cruiser.

Michael is a "banger" - a gang member - and is being transported to the King County Youth Services detention center in Seattle.

A member of the Crips gang, Michael is "dressed down" in blue. There's a teardrop under his eye, and it won't go away. It was tattooed on, a symbol for gang members who have done time in jail.

Michael, police say, is a problem. He has a tendency to shoot people.

Kirkland police Officer Rick Krebs guides the cruiser past Carillon Point, heading for the Evergreen Point bridge. His partner, Bill Hamilton, is sitting next to Michael in the back seat. Both men are members of Kirkland's Gang Unit - the only unit of its kind on the Eastside.

Kirkland police admit their gang problem is nothing like Seattle's. However, incidents of gang-related crime are up, they say.

With a gang unit - established in December by using patrol officers on a part-time basis - Kirkland police say they have a chance to stem the problem before it gets out of hand.

The unit's focus is to gather intelligence on gangs and to warn young kids about the dangers of associating with gang members.

The six-member unit includes five officers and one lieutenant. Each of the five officers specializes in different gangs - Crips, Bloods, Black Gangster Disciples (BGDs), Asian gangs and Skinheads.

After seven months, the unit is seeing results. One gang member they identified earlier this year was extradited to California on a murder charge. They also broke up a stolen-gun ring and have passed along information to several other police agencies that have led to arrests.

On the flip side, some of the officers have received death threats, and the department has received bomb threats.

Lt. Gene Markle, who supervises the unit, said some people assume that Eastside gangs are a myth and wonder why Kirkland would have a gang unit. He thought that himself. The wake-up call came last fall, when a Kirkland area youth was severely beaten at a party crashed by gang members. None of the other kids lifted a finger to help. They were too intimidated, police say.

That intimidation is what makes gangs such a threat, Markle said.

"The big difference between them and other juveniles is that these guys are intimidating not only other kids but teachers, parents, school administrators, even the police."

One of the unit's biggest challenges, Markle said, is trying to convince people that the gang issue has nothing to do with race.

In fact, most gang members on the Eastside are white or Asian, Markle said. Many are middle-class white kids who join Seattle-based gangs, which are predominately black.

The kids in one major gang even travel to Seattle once a month for meetings, to get hand signs down and for other indoctrination, police say.

At times, some of the competing gang members on the Eastside will hang out together, which "just blew the mind" of Los Angeles gang-unit officer who came here recently to observe the problem, Markle said.

"It's not unusual to go down to Peter Kirk Park and see Bloods, Crips, BGDs and Skinheads all hanging out together," Markle said. "It's because a lot of them grew up together.

"Four or five years ago, a lot of these kids didn't know what the hell a gang was. They're kids who would be hanging out together, anyway."

However, the gang mystique has caught on in the pop culture, particularly with the popularity of rap music, Markle said. Even kids who have no intention of joining gangs want to dress the part.

"They see the TV shows, movies, and it's glorified in music, and pretty soon they get recruited," Markle said.

One thing Kirkland police say they've learned is that criminal activity for gangs on the Eastside revolves more around burglary and auto theft rather than drugs.

There are a lot of apartments, which are fairly easy marks for burglars, as well as nice cars. And because so many people carry insurance, "the shelves are always replenished," Markle said.

Michael (not his real name) is in handcuffs tonight because he was nabbed, police say, inside a woman's car at the Totem Lake West shopping center.

Krebs, who was just beginning his shift, bolted out the door as soon as he heard Michael's name being read over the police radio by the investigating patrol officer. Police knew Michael was one of the more hard-core gang members in town and were just waiting for him to slip up.

It's ironic he was caught in such a minor crime, Krebs said. "This guy will kill you for your clothes."

The first time Kirkland police met Michael, Hamilton said, he was about to mug a younger kid near Juanita High School for a jacket popular with gang members. Although he knew the younger kid wasn't a gang member, Hamilton had just gotten into his car after lecturing the youth about the dangers of "dressing the part."

"Suddenly this big blue car slams on its brakes right in front of us, and out jumps (Michael), running full steam for this kid."

Hamilton foiled the assault.

On the way to Seattle, both officers chat with Michael like he was a troubled kid brother, but it's not a language most people would understand. Krebs and Hamilton have the gang lingo down to an art. Talking the gangster's tongue is an important tactic in the battle for control.

"We have a relationship built up with these guys where we'll treat them straight up and they'll treat us straight up," said Hamilton. "It's a test of control to see who has the upper hand, and respect is the key."

The thing they're most satisfied with, though, is that gang members, who generally go mum when approached by officers in patrol uniforms, have warmed up to the more casually attired gang-unit officers.

Michael, for instance, is doing a lot of talking on his way into Seattle. He talks about doing time in Phoenix for shooting a rival gangster, about accidentally shooting a friend in the leg, about his girlfriend who was killed by "some slob" in a drive-by shooting, about tension in Seattle between the Crips and BGDs, and about how some gang members are talking about shooting the cops in Seattle.

He's also talking up a tough front about having a night of fighting on his hands at juvenile hall. The joint is rumored to be crawling with BGD members, and Michael knows they'll be looking for him.

"They think I shot a guy . . . one of their folks," Michael says.

The shooting Michael is talking about occurred in late June, less than a week before he was arrested for the auto prowl in Kirkland. A 20-year-old Seattle man was shot in the chest and died four hours later. It ended up as a blurb in the paper, but it's been big news on the street all week.

"Did you do it?" Hamilton asks.

"No."

Michael looks out the window again as the cruiser passes by a stretch of affluent homes along Lake Washington Boulevard.

Hamilton pulls him back into the car by opening a three-ring binder filled with photographs of other suspected gang members. The youth leans over and looks curiously up and down the row of Polaroids. They're of young people, posing for the police. Some are relaxed and smiling, others are stiff and uncomfortable. Many are flashing gang hand signs. Michael eventually comes across his own picture.

Aside from just talking to them, photographing kids associated with gangs has been the focus of the unit's work. So far, officers have contacted nearly 400 youths and figure there are nearly a hundred known gang members in the city.

If the youths ever get arrested for something, their photos will be used to help convince the court that they're gang members, which could result in harsher punishment.

Generally, the gang officers patrol areas all over Kirkland where gang members or "associates" tend to gather, for instance, Peter Kirk Park, the waterfront, the Totem Lake area and Juanita, as well as some areas just outside the city, such as Kirkland Heights and Kingsgate.

If the officers see someone they don't know "dressed down," they'll talk to them for a while and ask to take their picture. Most of the kids go along with the routine without a fuss.

Some parents, however, object to such overt police contact, and the gang-unit cops realize they're walking a tightrope between issues of civil liberties and public safety.

"We do get calls from parents," Hamilton said, "asking `Why did you stop my kid? Because of his clothes or because he's black?' Well of course not. This is America. Kids can dress any way they want. But we're trying to educate them about the risks involved in dressing that way . . . And the overwhelming number of kids we talk to are white, not black."

Some say that police are kicking against the goads by trying to battle a way of dress that is as popular with kids in the '90s as bell bottoms and Converse tennis shoes were with kids of the '60s and '70s.

But Kirkland police don't think so. Every parent who complains, Hamilton said, gets a briefing on what the unit has found out about gangs on the Eastside, and comes away believing that Kirkland police are not "crying wolf."

The unit is still evolving and may eventually play a role similar to police D.A.R.E. programs. Instead of preaching drug and alcohol awareness education, they'll pound home the dangers of gangs.

"Here in Kirkland, it's not a losing battle yet like it is in L.A.," Hamilton said. "We've got to make it so it's not cool to be a banger."

Krebs and Hamilton pull up to the gate at the King County juvenile facility. Two other youths who have just been released strain for a look into the back seat, and Michael looks away.

Later, after Michael is locked up, Krebs steers the cruiser through the parking lot and stops to talk to the two youths who seemed to show so much interest in Michael.

Hamilton asks if they know Michael.

"Yeah, he shot my home boy," one answers.

After some small talk, the inquiring youth admits that he was a gang member, but doesn't "do any banging anymore." Then he squints at the patch on Hamilton's arm.

"Gang unit? Kirkland has a gang unit?"