By Anita Kumar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 3, 2008

RICHMOND, May 2 -- Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) signed into law Friday a bill designed to crack down on bars and restaurants that promote gang activity in a state that has some of the toughest anti-gang laws in the nation.

The law will allow the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to revoke or suspend the liquor licenses of businesses that act as meeting places for gangs. ABC agents may also fine the owners.

"Oftentimes, management of these establishments are not just innocent bystanders. They're willing partners with gang members, sometimes tacitly and sometimes actively supporting the criminal activity of these gangs," Kaine said.

The General Assembly passed a handful of anti-gang bills during this year's legislative session as part of a recent push in Virginia to prevent gang activity.

Law enforcement officials estimate that Virginia has at least 40 laws combating gangs. Many were championed by former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore, who made gang enforcement one of his priorities, and his successor, Robert F. McDonnell.

Mindy S. Grizzard, who sits on the board of the Virginia Gang Investigators Association, said Virginia has a growing gang problem and a reputation in recent years for enacting some of the strongest laws in the nation to combat it. "Virginia does have a gang problem," Grizzard said. "It's there."

In recent years, the state has increased the penalties for recruiting or coercing someone into a gang, allowed judges to restrict interaction between gang members and expanded the list of crimes that make a person eligible for prosecution under Virginia's gang participation laws.

This year's law was written after agents noticed gang members congregating at certain restaurants and bars across the state, said Pamela O'Berry Evans, head of the Virginia ABC Board.

"It's not a rare occasion to have a case where gang activity is involved," she said. "This is a direct way of getting at that activity."

For years, community leaders were reluctant to acknowledge that the state had a gang problem, but experts say that has changed with the recent increase in gang-related violence.

State police arrested 328 people affiliated with 58 gangs in Virginia last year. Many more were arrested by local police.

The Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force, the largest law enforcement group of its kind in the state, made 585 arrests in the 2006-07 fiscal year. It estimates a 30 percent decrease in gang activity in its five-year history.

About 2 million people in the United States are members of gangs, experts say. No recent figure exists in Virginia, but officials say gangs have cropped up in all parts of the state.

"It's not just cities . . . and the large metropolitan areas anymore," said Del. Paula Miller (D-Norfolk), who introduced the bill. "It's everywhere, unfortunately, in our communities across the commonwealth."

Several groups of local and police officials have formed to address the problem. But law enforcement officials are reluctant to talk about the extent of the problem for fear of scaring residents.

Kaine ceremoniously signed the ABC bill Friday morning at the state Department of Corrections headquarters during a meeting of the Virginia Interagency Anti-Gang Workgroup, a five-year-old organization that brings together members from 19 state and local agencies. The group awarded $10,000 grants to 24 agencies across the state last year. The grants were designed to help the groups prevent gang activity by engaging children, getting them to join after-school or other programs and encouraging them to stay in school. Recipients included the Loudoun County Community Services Board and the Department of Parks and Recreation in Manassas Park.

"It's not necessarily one size fits all," Kaine said. "You have to try some different strategies to see what works."

U.S. Rep. Robert C. Scott, a Democrat who represents the Newport News area, introduced a bill in Congress aimed at decreasing gang activity through prevention. Scott said the United States needs to spend more money on prevention and less on incarceration.

"It's not a question of spending money, but it's how we are spending money," he said.