Mr. GRIFFIN. It is printed in some document that the Office of Economic Opportunity has. The CHAIRMAN. I understand it is in the grant, itself. Go ahead. Mr. GRIFFIN. Since September 1967 and after the project became fully operational, the decrease in crime which I alluded to earlier began to reverse itself. This was first noted during the period of August 17 through September 13, 1967, when we experienced 737 index crimes, which was 83 more than the previous period July 20 through August 16, 1967. As a further illustration of this increase in crime, I might add that during the first eight police periods of 1967 (Jan. 5 through Aug. 16, 1967) we averaged 578.37 index crimes per period. During the last five periods of 1967 (Aug. 17 through Jan. 3, 1968) at which time enrollees were being recruited for the manpower training program, index crimes averaged 705 for each of these periods. The Woodlawn Organization and Reverend Brazier, who are responsible for the proper control and supervision of the gang project, although pledging their cooperation, have failed or refused to cooperate with police since the grant was initially funded in June 1967. Specific examples of this failure or refusal to cooperate are enumerated as follows. The CHAIRMAN. I have asked the question a number of times: Whether these two ministers cooperated with the law, whether they gave assistance to you in trying to enforce the law. What I understand you propose to do now is to enumerate the manner in which they failed to cooperate and failed to give assistance. Mr. GRIFFIN. Then I would like to make a further distinction after I conclude this affidavit, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Very well. Go ahead. Mr. GRIFFIN. 1. A refusal to provide a listing of enrollees in the program by virtue that they felt that it would betray a confidence. The sole purpose in requesting such listings was to determine if enrollees in the program were being recruited from the public schools. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, the police undertook to get a list of the enrollees, their names, so that you could check to ascertain whether they were being recruited from the public schools? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Who refused to cooperate with you on that? The CHAIRMAN. Reverend Brazier refused to let you have the list? I have a report that I made to the superintendent on the date that this refusal was made. The CHAIRMAN. You reported it to your superintendent? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Will you supply a copy of that for the record? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. I have furnished a copy to the committee. Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Let it be received and made exhibit 202. (Document referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 202" for reference and may be found in the files of the subcommittee.) The CHAIRMAN. Proceed. Mr. GRIFFIN. 2. Permitting youths to utilize the school facilities after normal school hours. A specific example of this is an incident which occurred on October 20, 1967, when eight members of the Blackstone Rangers and one juvenile female were arrested in the training center at 6750 Stony Island Avenue while engaged in a teenage drinking party and where eight pint bottles of wine were also recovered. The CHAIRMAN. Do you say that was after the school hours? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What were the school hours? Mr. GRIFFIN. I think it was from 9 o'clock to 3:15, sir. The CHAIRMAN. How did he refuse to cooperate? Who refused to cooperate with you in this matter? Mr. GRIFFIN. I don't recall. But I had asked specifically that these centers not be utilized for anything but for educational purposes during the normal school hours. The CHAIRMAN. You cannot necessarily blame the administrator in charge of this program unless he knew about it and permitted it. Mr. GRIFFIN. He made the keys available, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What? Mr. GRIFFIN. The keys were made available. The CHAIRMAN. Are you sure? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. This element that we have been talking about might make duplicate keys or procure them in some other way without his making them available. Mr. GRIFFIN. That is possible. The CHAIRMAN. But, anyway, this went on? Mr. GRIFFIN. This occurred. Senator CURTIS. I want to ask something. What caused it to be the responsibility of the police to find out what went on in these after hours for their education and training? Mr. GRIFFIN. Here is what happened on this occasion, Senator Curtis: There was a very young girl walking the street about 1 o'clock in the morning. This was well after the curfew hour. When the police approached to interrogate her relative to her presence on the street, she ran up into this second floor center. She was followed up there and once they arrived on the premises they found this drinking party. Senator CURTIS. Where did you say they got the key for it? Mr. GRIFFIN. To the best of my knowledge, certainly the center chiefs and some of the instructors were provided keys for these establishments. The CHAIRMAN. How old was this girl? Mr. GRIFFIN. Fourteen, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What time of night was it? The CHAIRMAN. Very well. Proceed. Mr. GRIFFIN. 3. Another failure to cooperate is exemplified by the arrest of the acting director of the program, Mr. Anthony Gibbs on December 11, 1967. The CHAIRMAN. Was Gibbs a member of either gang? Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir. He is an adult. A beat car while on patrol was stopped by a citizen and informed of a group of disorderly teenagers on a street corner. As the police officers approached, the group fled and stopped on the sidewalk at a location directly in front of the Woodlawn Organization manpower training offices. While in the process of searching the youths for weapons, Mr. Gibbs emerged from his office and demanded to know what was going on. Mr. Gibbs then ordered the youths being interrogated and searched by the officers to enter the building. Mr. Gibbs was informed that he was interfering in a police matter and he continued to insist that the youths enter the building, which they finally did. Mr. Gibbs then informed the officers that the youths were now on private property and they would need a search warrant to enter. Efforts to reason with Mr. Gibbs were to no avail and he was then arrested for obstructing a police officer in the performance of his duty. Police officers then entered the building. However, they were unable to identify the youths that they had stopped in front of the building because they had then mingled with the other 30 people that were on the premises. The CHAIRMAN. That was after they had entered upon his orders? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What time of the day was that? Mr. GRIFFIN. That was during the lunch break. It was between 12:30 and 1 p.m., sir. The CHAIRMAN. That was daytime? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What were they doing that would cause the police to interfere? Mr. GRIFFIN. They were acting in a disorderly manner on the street corner. When the police approached, they all began to walk toward the center. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Curtis. Senator CURTIS. You are not a lawyer? Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir. Senator CURTIS. In serving in the capacity of an officer of a law enforcing agency, what was the practice, as you understood it, during the period in question on the searching by police of individuals for guns or other dangerous weapons? Mr. GRIFFIN. A police officer has a right to search a person that he is about to interrogate for guns or dangerous weapons in order to protect himself, sir. Senator CURTIS. The Supreme Court of the United States recently affirmed that. But as your instructions are carried out in Chicago, I take it from what you said here that that could not be done after the person in question had departed and entered somebody's premises? Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir; it could be done, if they had departed under the circumstances that I had related to you. Senator CURTIS. But Mr. Gibbs did not want that done? Mr. GRIFFIN. He objected to it, sir. Senator CURTIS. If they had gone to a place that was genuinely their residence, you would have had a different proposition? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. Senator CURTIS. That is all. Mr. GRIFFIN. 4. Lack of supervision at the center. An example of this lack of supervision is an incident which occurred on February 22, 1968, wherein a 17-year-old youth, a nongang member was accosted on the street by members of the Blackstone Rangers and taken to the Manpower Training Center at 6750 South Stony Island Avenue where he was blindfolded, robbed of $5 U.S. currency, and a wristwatch and beaten by members of the group. They then wrote on the jacket of the youth "Blackstone Ranger, he ain't." The victim was then taken out of the school and into an alley; knocked down and instructed to stay there or "we will do it all over again." Ten of these youths involved in this incident were identified and arrested a short while later. Senator CURTIS. What time of day was that? Mr. GRIFFIN. That was during the noon lunch break. Further example of this lack of supervision is an incident which occurred on January 9, 1968, in the center at 866 East 63d Street wherein a gang member and a student, Joseph Evans, was accidentally shot in the head with a .12 gage shotgun while he and another student were attempting allegedly to repair it. Investigation disclosed that this shotgun had been in the center for quite some time and was accessible to all of the enrollees in this center. This is the incident that Detective Spellar alluded to earlier. The CHAIRMAN. Back to the beating incident of the 17-year-old youth. He was not a member of the gang? Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Why was he taken off the street and taken and beaten? Did you find out? Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir. But there were 10 arrests made. The CHAIRMAN. Any convictions? Have they been tried? Mr. GRIFFIN. I don't know the status of the case at this time, sir. Another example of this lack The CHAIRMAN. Just a moment. Which center was it? Was it the center in the Presbyterian Church? Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir, at 6750 Stony Island Avenue. The CHAIRMAN. This is the other Blackstone Ranger Center? Mr. GRIFFIN. This is the other Blackstone Ranger Center, other than the First Presbyterian Church. The CHAIRMAN. This is the second center or one of the two Ranger centers where this beating occurred? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. All right. Mr. GRIFFIN. 5. Another example of this lack of supervision occurred on February 28, 1968, wherein a Police Sgt. Earl Flemming, pursued two youths into the center at 1018 East 63d Street after they had just committed a theft in a grocery store across the street. One of the youths was immediately apprehended while inside the training location and as he was being escorted toward the front door he broke away from the officer and attempted to rip a piece of two by four from a partition stating that he would beat the officer's head off; 10 other youths in the center made threatening gestures to this sergeant. The sergeant left the building, summoned help and upon arrival of the assist cars returned to the center only to find that the suspect was no longer on the premises At no time during this encounter was anyone of any authority present in the center. The CHAIRMAN. Is this the same center where the other occurred? Mr. GRIFFIN. This is a different center, sir. This is a Disciples center. The CHAIRMAN. Do I understand that the organization of which the Reverend Brazier is head, had supervision-or was supposed toover all four of these centers? Mr. GRIFFIN. All four centers were supposed to be properly supervised. The CHAIRMAN. Did you ever try to contact him about these things that were occurring and try to get his cooperation and assistance? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. It is in the reports which I submitted to the superintendent and which is on file with the committee. The CHAIRMAN. Did you contact him personally? Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir, at the OEO meetings, at monitoring meetings, this is a nomenclature that they gave to the meetings. OEO did. They called them monitoring meetings. In the proposal, there was to be a representative of the Chicago Police Department present at these meetings. I was appointed as this representative. The CHAIRMAN. Did you go to the meetings? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Was the Reverend Brazier there? Mr. GRIFFIN. Not all the time. The CHAIRMAN. When he was there, did you discuss these incidents with him? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir, and I made it a matter of record in my report to the superintendent. The CHAIRMAN. You tried to get information from him? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Did he give you any cooperation? Mr. GRIFFIN. Not as it relates to the manpower training programs. He said he would correct these things that we complained of. The CHAIRMAN. He said he would correct them. Did he give you any assistance in apprehending those who were guilty of these offenses? Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Or give any explanation of why they were occurring? Mr. GRIFFIN. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. It seems to me, if these facts are true, that actually the centers were providing a kind of haven, a sanctuary, a haven of safe refuge or sanctuary, for these youths whenever they committed crime. They would run there, apparently, they would go there immediately, or take someone in there and beat them up. Did you acquaint the Reverend Brazier with these facts and talk to him about them? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir; it is a matter of record. The CHAIRMAN. It is a matter of record? Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And all the cooperation you got was he said he would correct them? 85-779-68-pt. 11- -10 |