AUDIT: SCRAP ANTI-GANG EFFORT COUNCIL REACTS WARILY TO CRITICISM OF L.A. BRIDGES.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

City Controller Rick Tuttle called Friday for a halt in any further funding of the $10 million anti-gang L.A. Bridges program, saying it was an ``overly ambitious'' effort that had been expanded because of political considerations and failed to achieve its goals.

``We realize that this program is relatively new and that usually they need three to five years to prove themselves, but we think action is needed now in the interest of saving taxpayer dollars,'' Tuttle said at a City Hall news conference where he released an audit - more than 500 pages long - of the program.

Tuttle said he believed the money could be better spent on after-school tutoring programs.

But some officials urged the city to be cautious about disbanding the anti-gang program despite Tuttle's recommendation - which coincidentally came exactly four weeks after Police Chief Bernard C. Parks ordered the Los Angeles Police Department's anti-gang CRASH units disbanded citywide as a result of the Rampart Division corruption scandal.

``This strikes me as premature until we get a full evaluation of the programs,'' Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said. ``It seems to me he's jumping the gun until we know how effective the programs are.

``It also strikes me that he is calling for an end to the only anti-gang program we have in the city at a time when we have disbanded the CRASH units because of Rampart and we have a threat of gangs growing. I'm not sure we should stop Bridges when the problem might be with the Community Development Department.''

Tuttle also said that if the program is to continue, it should be scaled down from its present 26 sites to five or 10 so the programs could be more fully developed, then expanded.

``Originally, they were talking about 10 to 15 sites, but it was expanded to other areas because of the pressures from the City Council,'' Tuttle said. ``I would have to say this was an overly ambitious effort and it is better to take action now rather than wait.''

Tuttle's audit was greeted with some skepticism by other city officials as well.

Councilman Mike Hernandez said he wanted to review the Tuttle audit, but was concerned about stopping all the programs.

``We should look at what is working and what isn't before ending the entire program,'' Hernandez said. ``There are some (areas) where there have been successes. We should look at those and use them for the rest of the program.''

Aides to Mayor Richard Riordan said he has long been concerned about the program's operation, but would not comment on Tuttle's audit until it has been more thoroughly reviewed.

L.A. Bridges was funded in 1997 and designed to serve as an effort to keep young people from joining gangs as well as working with hard-core gang members to get them to return to school. It did not begin operations until 1998.

Even with such a new program, Tuttle said there were serious deficiencies in monitoring the programs and in record-keeping to track the effectiveness of its efforts. Also, he said there was a lack of collaboration with either the LAPD or the Los Angeles Unified School District even though it operated out of local schools.

``Although the Bridges programs contain many of the important components needed for an anti-gang program, for the program to truly address the issues of gangs, it must be refocused to include the missing elements and management of the program must be improved,'' the audit said.

``There was a significant lack of management attention to the various sources of information.''

Tuttle said the program needed to do more than provide after-school tutoring, counseling and sports activities.

``Rather than after-school activities or even individual counseling, formalized training in social skills, anger management, impulse control and conflict resolution are considered to be the most promising strategies for both gang and delinquency prevention,'' Tuttle said. ``That's where we should be putting our efforts.''

Also, Tuttle noted that one of the key aspects of the program was to work with neighborhood advisory councils, and only 20 percent of those were operating as intended.

Part of the problem is the absence of an overall anti-gang strategy, Tuttle said.

``If we are to continue this program, I would recommend we have an anti-gang czar to coordinate these programs,'' he said.

Additionally, Tuttle said he had some concerns over the management of funds. His office estimated that some $500,000 was unaccounted for, but officials with the Community Development Department said the funds were kept track of and can be accounted for.