Operation Linebacker: using status offenses to reduce crimes in communities.

Juvenile offenses, gang-related crime, violent crime, vandalism, and status offenses(1) remain a problem in many major cities throughout the nation. To combat such problems in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the police department developed a juvenile interdiction sweeps program, nicknamed Operation Linebacker after a wartime defensive blitz tactic. This program teams officers and police reserves from the Fort Wayne Police Department (FWPD) with officers from the Indiana State Excise Police (Alcoholic Beverage Commission) and the Allen County Juvenile Probation Office. It operates on the Broken Windows theory(2) and targets crimes committed by juveniles.

Coordinating the Effort

When police departments create juvenile interdiction programs, the coordinators must plan for special considerations. In addition to forming the teams from various law enforcement agencies, interagency planning remains an important factor to maintain the additional help needed in such operations. The liaison the FWPD sweep coordinators created prior to beginning the sweeps proved beneficial to making their program run smoothly. For example, prior to initiating the sweeps, the FWPD program coordinators -

* asked juvenile probation officers to provide vans for transporting prisoners during the program and employed FWPD reserve police officers as security for those taken into custody.

* notified the local juvenile detention facility to expect an increase in inmates requiting either detention, citation, or parental notification and release processing. FWPD found that with large numbers of arrests, citing the juvenile and releasing them to a parent or guardian proved most efficient.

* asked local and state police departments for additional officers to assist with the sweeps and to provide additional security at the detention facility.

* requested additional city dispatchers, particularly for wanted person, runaway, and other records checks.

* notified the FWPD Bureau of Identification that it would need extra personnel for conducting records checks, booking adult prisoners, and assigning control numbers.

* advised nonemergency dispatchers to direct gang-related, disturbance, nuisance, and status-offense calls to the sweep teams.

* notified detectives from both the Juvenile and Detective Bureaus, as well as from the Vice and Narcotics Division, that the sweep teams would handle those gang-related and status-offense calls but they should remain available for juvenile and adult that felony investigations and arrests.

* issued team members a standardized worksheet used to report team arrests, which included a checklist of common charges.

In addition to coordinating the different aspects of a juvenile interdiction program, each team can take other steps to ensure success. For example, the FWPD sweep teams gathered intelligence from local school personnel, as well as juvenile and corrections personnel, on potential alcohol or drug parties. Further, establishing liaison with child protective services case workers proved useful in the placement of unattended minors or children in need of services. FWPD found contacts in the local prosecutor's office beneficial as well, because they participated as observers and provided assistance for obtaining warrants. A myriad of other agencies exist that could prove beneficial in sweep operations (e.g., animal control officers, city or state fire marshals, and board of health inspectors), and maintaining liaison with these individuals remains paramount to successful operations.

Team coordinators should remember to pair units from the participating agencies when preparing assignment rosters. Additionally, prior to the sweeps, they should provide team members with such small, yet crucial, details as which radio channel the teams will use and what protocol to follow when transmitting.

Finally, team coordinators must consider what types of transportation will best serve each sweep. In addition to the use of marked and unmarked police cars, coordinators should not overlook other means of transportation, such as equestrian, bicycle, and foot patrols.

Implementing the Program

During the 1998 spring break for Fort Wayne community schools, FWPD initiated a pilot program with four goals in mind - to reduce gang violence, to curb vandalism, to decrease juvenile criminal activity, and to act as an ongoing deterrent during the spring and summer months. To accomplish these goals, the FWPD targeted status crimes such as alcohol-related offenses committed by individuals under the age of 21, underage possession of tobacco products, and curfew violations for minors. The teams also focused on various other crimes ranging from violations of city ordinances, such as being in a city park after hours and possessing an open container of alcohol, to narcotic offenses.

Prior to the team's first sweep, the FWPD held a public meeting to explain the concepts of the program. Concerned citizens, parents, and members of the media attended and obtained general information about the operation but not the specific dates or times of the sweeps.

For two consecutive weekends during spring break, the teams patrolled for juvenile crime interdiction. The patrols conducted the first weekend sweeps from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. and the following weekend from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. During these first two sweeps, the teams arrested about 200 juveniles for various offenses.

Local police commanders and the FWPD Crime Analysis Unit indicated that during and immediately following the sweeps, the calls for police service and the number of criminal incidents declined noticeably. In addition, this proactive enforcement and juveline-offense interdiction reduced vandalism, gang crimes, and juvenile violence.

Operation Linebacker continued in May and June during "senior skip week" and just before and immediately after area high school graduations. During 1998, the teams conducted more than eight weekend sweeps, averaging more than 130 arrests during each weekend. One sweep resulted in a status-offense arrest of juveniles wanted in another county for a gun store robbery.

In another sweep, based on probable cause and tips developed from citizen complaints, the team obtained search warrants to raid underage drug and alcohol parties. Other sweeps, such as those conducted after hours in city parks, produced arrests of wanted persons and runaways, as well as numerous subsequent vice investigations. Additionally, these sweeps in city parks often revealed hidden underage drinking parties and curtailed many cases of vandalism.

Conclusion

The Fort Wayne Police Department and other area law enforcement agencies have collaborated successfully to dramatically decrease crime and increase neighborhood safety. Additionally, this program has been implemented at little or no cost to the agencies and has helped to combat crime and violence in Fort Wayne.

In today's society, where police arrest children for murder, robbery, and other adult offenses, the importance and effectiveness of enforcement of these offenses seem obvious. The FWPD's Operation Linebacker Program has confirmed that the enforcement of juvenile offenses such as smoking, drinking alcohol, and violating curfew laws, deters more serious criminal activity and leads to the arrests of more serious offenders, thus making the neighborhood streets safer for all citizens.

Endnotes

1 Status offenses are those acts committed by underage individuals.

2 Briefly, this theory contends that a broken window left unfixed is a sign that nobody cares and leads to more serious damage. Similarly, minor crimes left untended are signs that may lead to more serious crime and urban decay. J. Wilson and G. Kelling, "Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety," Atlantic Monthly, March 1982, 29-38.

Sergeant Girod supervises the northeast and southeast quadrants in the Detective Bureau of the Fort Wayne, Indiana, Police Department. The author wishes to acknowledge all of the members of the various departments for their significant contributions in making this program a success.