Police ‘Czar’ Assigned to Spearhead Assault on Gang-Drug Tie-In

Acknowledging that he has “underestimated the sophistication of the street gang-narcotic tie-in,” Police Chief Daryl F. Gates Wednesday announced the appointment of Deputy Police Chief Glenn A. Levant to what he termed a new post of LAPD “anti-gang, anti-drug czar.”

Levant will be responsible for centralizing and coordinating the LAPD’s efforts to reduce narcotics trafficking by drug peddlers and street gangs, Gates said at a press conference held jointly by the chief and Mayor Tom Bradley.

In an interview, Levant said of the gangs, “We’re going to arrest them to death. We’re not going to push them from one neighborhood to another, we’re going to use all the laws available and all the resources we need to keep arresting people for being involved in the selling and using of drugs. My philosophy is these guys can’t hurt the law-abiding public if they’re in jail.”

Levant said he expects to arrest at least 100 gang members a month and increase the number until “there is no more blatant drug dealing by gang members on the street.”

Spokesmen for Gates and Bradley said the announcement of Levant’s new responsibility was a response to statistics released last week that deemed street gangs responsible for a record 205 homicides in Los Angeles in 1986 and another 79 in areas under the county sheriff’s jurisdiction. Authorities estimate that more than 500 gangs, with more than 50,000 members, operate in Los Angeles County.

In a joint press release, Bradley and Gates said they are sending the following “strong message to drug users and drug sellers: If you deal in narcotics, be prepared to answer to Glenn Levant.”

Levant, 46, a 24-year department veteran, has commanded the department’s Special Investigations Bureau for more than two years and will remain responsible for managing the bureau’s citywide vice enforcement, narcotics and public affairs functions. He is the department’s newest deputy chief, having been appointed to that rank in September.

Wednesday’s press conference was held at a San Fernando Valley fire station, in front of 24 cars and vans that were recently confiscated by police during drug busts--one of them sporting a “DARE to keep kids off drugs” bumper sticker. Only 10 of last year’s gang-related homicides occurred in the Valley, compared to 114 in South Los Angeles.

Scope of the Threat

Gates said he had been aware that the tie-in between gangs and drug peddling was “devastating . . . and was resulting in a great deal of violence throughout this city in an effort to gain territory.”

“But certainly I was amazed at the sophistication of this,” Gates continued. “And we’re going to have to use sophisticated techniques to deal with this serious problem.”

Levant’s mission, Gates said, is to “stop . . . the terrorism on the streets.” The chief, who in past years has repeatedly vowed to “obliterate” violent street gangs, Wednesday predicted “very, very significant results” within a year.

In his new post, Levant is expected to link the department’s narcotics specialists with those officers assigned to specialized anti-gang units in order to fight gang drug peddling.

Significance of Move

In the past, another officer, Lorne C. (Larry) Kramer, has been referred to as the department’s gang “czar.” Levant’s assumption of that informal title does not represent a criticism or “displacement” of Kramer, 45, who concentrated specifically on anti-gang efforts, a department spokesman, Cmdr. William Booth, said.

“What has taken place today . . . has been an evolutionary development that leans very heavily on the things that Kramer has learned and done.”

While Levant’s appointment may seem essentially bureaucratic, department insiders said it is meant to cut through the layers of administration that often prevent officers under separate commands from working together effectively.

Bradley, who has refused to endorse a recent proposal by Gates and mayoral aspirant Zev Yaroslavsky to add 650 new officers to the Police Department, said at the press conference that he “totally supports” the “czar” concept.

Alternative Methods

Community anti-gang leaders, meanwhile, termed Levant’s appointment a positive step but said that public officials must also explore alternative methods of coping with the city’s massive street gang problem.

“The long-term solution is not in law enforcement, it is in prevention,” said Tony Massengale, assistant director of Community Youth Gang Services. “That means dealing with the conditions that create gang members, that create drug users, that find these kids without economic opportunity and without much hope.”

As part of Wednesday’s announcement, police administrators said they will seek City Council funding for a fifth deputy chief to help Levant and the three other deputy chiefs. Gates has repeatedly asserted that his administration has been hamstrung since 1982, when the City Council trimmed the number of deputy chiefs from nine to four.

In May, 1986, Bradley vetoed a City Council vote that would have restored two of the five deputy chief positions lost in 1982. Each position pays more than $100,000 a year.

The fifth deputy chief probably would work in the LAPD’s Office of Operations, which commands all patrol units and some detective squads, Booth said.

Gates, meanwhile, must also soon select a replacement for one of his four deputy chiefs. James C. Hardin, a 27-year department veteran, announced his retirement last week to take a job as security director for a grocery chain.