OFFICIALS VOW TO FIGHT GANGS L.A. COULD BECOME 'LABORATORY' FOR NEW METHODS OF REDUCING CRIME.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Comparing the 96,000 gang members in Los Angeles County to bands of urban terrorists, law enforcement officials gathered Wednesday to explore ways to reduce those numbers and create a new life for young people.

``I've told Washington, they are spending millions in Iraq to fight terrorism and violence, they are spending millions on domestic terrorism,'' Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said. ``I think they ought to spend some of that money on the urban violence we face in our cities.''

Sheriff Lee Baca said local government is at a critical point in dealing with gang-related offenses - which represent nearly half of all the violent crime his office deals with.

``We can chase them down and arrest them, and we do, but that's not enough,'' Baca said during a break at the second annual Anti-Gang Violence Conference in Carson, hosted by his office and other county agencies.

``What we need to develop and encourage is a new way of thinking, by gang members and the rest of us,'' Baca said. ``There is no easy and quick solution. We didn't get to this problem overnight and we aren't going to solve it overnight.''

Baca is proposing a program, expected to be launched shortly after the new year, that will serve as a clearinghouse for law enforcement, educators, the courts and parents to refer young gang members for counseling and work.

Under the program, being developed through the efforts of USC football coach Pete Carroll and the Pacific Institute, gang members will undergo an intensive training program to help them see beyond the gang life they have adopted.

``There are people who are 20 years old and think they will live forever,'' said Lou Tice, chairman of the institute that has worked with various organizations on ways to improve productivity. ``We want to give them a new way to think.''

Mayor James Hahn appeared at a morning panel where he endorsed the effort, saying he was looking to support any attempt to make the city safer.

``If we make Los Angeles safer, we make it more productive,'' Hahn told reporters. ``We want to repeat here what happened in New York, where investments came in when crime came down.''

Bratton said he agreed with the proposal from Baca on looking at different ways to deal with gangs and was offering up his police department for experimentation.

``I would like to see Los Angeles a laboratory for anti-gang programs,'' Bratton said. ``We can and do arrest them, but that isn't solving the problem. We can do better.''

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo also endorsed the approach even as he prepared to announce plans for a new gang crackdown.

Delgadillo and LAPD officials from the Hollywood Division are scheduled to announce today a new injunction against 18th Street gang members to deal with the drug-dealing activities that have endangered residents and tourists.

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com