I don’t normally write about Richmond homicides in the E-FORUM because it seems to be the one area of news coverage that is more than adequately covered by the commercial media. However, reaching the milestone of last year’s 42 homicides with two weeks to go in this calendar year cannot go without comment.

Honestly, I don’t know what else we as a City Council can do. We have a remarkable police chief, Chris Magnus, who is recruiting officers as fast as he can. He has reorganized and rescheduled the police force using best practices for community oriented and geographically based policing.

We have done something few, if any, cities in the Unites States have done, by breaking new ground and establishing the Office of Neighborhood Safety and hiring its first director, Devone Boggan, who is, in turn, staffing up as fast as he can with geographically based Street Outreach Strategy Workers. He is hard at work, meeting with many people, both outlaws and peacekeepers, and establishing collaborations with numerous public agencies, non-profit organizations and faith-based organizations to focus on the challenge. I met with him just two days ago for a detailed update on his activities and strategies.

If, as it seems to be in the case of the latest two homicides, people are intent on settling personal disputes and grudges with guns like in the old west, I’m not sure there is much that we, as legislators, can do to stop them. The killing in Richmond is relatively isolated, both geographically and demographically. Little of it is random or connected with other crimes, such as robbery. It does not directly affect the vast majority of people in Richmond, but it is devastating to those it does affect. It is firmly embedded in the culture of the place and is proving difficult to dislodge.

Perhaps the most difficult challenge is changing the culture in those core neighborhoods that have become the killing fields so that all residents are willing to work closely with and trust both law enforcement and peacekeepers to take back the streets. Too many crimes lack witnesses when there were plenty of people observing them and perhaps even more knowing who the perpetrators are but will not willing to come forward. Even our own public defenders were either reluctant or unmotivated to step forward recently after witnessing a shooting spree in a public street. There is legitimate fear of retaliation, and there is mistrust, but when the alternative may be getting caught in a crossfire when the next feud erupts, the risk may be worth it.

For the police, they have to prove that they will respond promptly when called, that they can be trusted with confidential tips and that they will be proactive in curtailing the drug trade that is related to much of the violence. Code Enforcement needs to show that they are willing to whatever it takes to curtail blight in the Iron Triangle and surrounding neighborhoods where the broken window theory is no longer a theory but a proven fact. Code Enforcement can play a key role, signaling to residents that the City of Richmond cares about all the residents of Richmond and is going to make sure that the residents of the poorest neighborhoods can expect the same basic quality of municipal life that residents of wealthier neighborhoods enjoy.

Rev. Shumake was quoted in the following article: “It's beyond a policing problem," Shumake said. "It starts in the home. It starts in the community. We in the community have to be responsible. These are our sons, our nephews, our cousins that are going out and committing these crimes. We need to stop that."

Any other ideas about what the City Council can do? Let me know.

Richmond murders now at 42 for the year

John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, December 16, 2007

(12-16) 04:00 PST Richmond -- Two fatal shootings in Richmond late Saturday brought the number of homicides in the city to 42 so far this year - equal to the number of killings there all of last year.

"It's a tragedy that we've reached this number again," said the Rev. Andre Shumake, a community leader and anti-violence activist who went to console the families of Saturday's shooting victims.

"What it indicates is we have a long way to go," Shumake said. "We have come a long way in Richmond, but this just sends the message we have a long way to go."

The Contra Costa County coroner's office today identified the two most recent victims, who were shot in separate incidents, as Aurelio Acosta, 22, and Esteban Gonzales, 52, both of Richmond.

The shootings happened about two miles away from each other and less than four hours apart. Investigators don't believe they are connected, Lt. Michael Booker said. Police are working several leads but no suspects have been named, Booker said.

The first shooting came at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the 500 block of Third Street and appeared to be touched off by some type of neighborhood dispute, Booker said.

It's unclear what that dispute was over, but it resulted in the death of Acosta and the wounding of an 18-year-old man who was shot in the back and thigh, police said. The 18-year-old was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening, police said.

The second shooting came at about 11 p.m. in the 400 block of Gertrude Avenue, police said.

There, witnesses heard an argument on the street followed by gunshots, Booker said. Police arrived to find Gonzales lying on the curb, shot multiple times in the upper torso, surrounded by distraught family members, Booker said.

"They were devastated," Shumake said of Gonzales' family. "Sometimes just being there and giving them a hug is all you can do. You just can't find the words that will comfort their loss."

There are no indications that Saturday's shootings were gang-related or turf-related, Booker said.

The shootings came after three other people, including a 14-year-old boy, were shot and killed in Richmond and unincorporated North Richmond on Friday, marking a bloody weekend that undercut police efforts to make headway against homicides in the city.

"We're still kind of right where we were last year," police Lt. Mark Gagan said. "What had been a quiet time of year has turned very volatile and violent."

The mood at the police department was grim today, Booker said.

"Any time we have a homicide or shooting, there's a lot of solemn people around the department," Booker said. "But we have job to do, and we try to do it to the best of our abilities, but it does affect the officers."

Police officials were developing strategies to try to combat homicides and other violent crime, Booker said.

Shumake, who has helped organize "tent cities" in Richmond's roughest neighborhoods to promote peace, called on community members to be personally accountable.

"It's beyond a policing problem," Shumake said. "It starts in the home. It starts in the community. We in the community have to be responsible. These are our sons, our nephews, our cousins that are going out and committing these crimes. We need to stop that."

E-mail John Coté at jcote@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/16/BAQQTVNTP.DTL