ANOTHER VIEW: Violence in Harlingen must end

Last Wednesday night, a Harlingen teenager tried to murder a police officer near the corner of "F" Street and Buchanan. Near this same corner, another teenager was stabbed to death in May and yet another teenager was shot and killed in June 2007. These three deadly instances of violence are highly disturbing in a community like Harlingen, which historically has had an extremely low crime rate. 

We on the City Commission share the community's outrage at these recent events. Enough is enough. These three recent incidents are three too many. Today we are here to announce steps toward ending this type of violence in our community. 

I firmly believe that this is a multidimensional problem. There is a continuum of criminal activity that begins with youth and petty crimes including graffiti and vandalism which can and does escalate into this kind of violence. For that reason, we need action both from the top down and from the bottom up. 

Clearly our police department must be accountable for the actions they take to safeguard and protect our citizens. The City Commission will join me in asking the city manager to direct the chief of police to re-evaluate the strategies in place to address what appears to be an increase in juvenile crime and gang violence in Harlingen. City Manager Craig Lonon has already assured me that he expects that swift and forceful steps will be taken to tackle these problems head-on and prevent further incidents of deadly violence. We may find that we need to strengthen the curfew or give the police more tools or assets to protect us. But we will do what needs to be done. 

While it would be easy to place all of the responsibility for public safety on law enforcement, that would not be prudent. I strongly believe we also can benefit from the ideas and experience of our citizens to identify an array of community-based solutions to prevent juvenile crime in our neighborhoods. 

That's why I have asked a select group of community leaders in the fields of education, law enforcement, youth development, as well as clergy, to form a task force to make community wide recommendations to address these issues. The Juvenile Crime, Graffiti and Gang Violence Task Force will be chaired by HCISD Board President George McShan and co-chaired by former state representative Jim Solis. Joining them on the task force will be Harlingen Police Chief Danny Castillo, UT-RAHC Chief of Police Adam Trevino (who has led much of our graffiti abatement effort), Boys and Girls Club Director Gerald Gathright, Rio Grande Council Scout Executive Ernesto Carballo, City Commissioners Tom Hushen and Larry Galbreath, Loaves and Fishes Executive Director Dean Hall and State District Judge Migdalia Lopez. McShan and Solis have identified other business leaders and clergy who will be asked to join this Task Force. We will also invite the cities of San Benito and La Feria to participate. 

This "community solutions" Task force will be asked to do the following: 

- Prepare an honest and fair assessment of the trend of the level of juvenile and gang violence within the city over the last 5 years 

- Compare that assessment and trend in violence with other Valley communities 

- Research and identify best practices for addressing juvenile crime, graffiti and gang violence from cities in the Valley and throughout the United States 

- Make Recommendations to improve law enforcement, education and community efforts to reduce juvenile crime, graffiti and gang violence within the city at community-wide forms and consider the response from the community 

- After considering the community's response, make final recommendations to the City Commission, school district, church community, youth groups and other organizations on what can be done to reduce the violence 

Coming up with cooperative solutions is challenging but it is clear that the best public safety campaigns across this nation always involve partnerships of various groups working together to improve the situation. That includes law enforcement, residents, business owners, elected officials, and other community leaders. But again, this is a two-pronged effort. First, immediate stepped up action by law enforcement and second, the study and input from the community-based task force. 

Our thoughts and prayers remain with Officer Diaz and his family as he recovers. And we applaud the swift bi-national apprehension of his assailant spearheaded by the Harlingen Police Department. This City Commission is committed to addressing the threats to public safety in Harlingen. We welcome your support and participation in this effort.

Boswell is the mayor of Harlingen.