In another sign that officials are shifting the way they go after the region's gangs, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said Tuesday his gang task force will turn much of its focus toward prevention and intervention tactics.

Joined by law enforcement officials from both the city and county of Sacramento, as well as community leaders and faith-based organizations, Johnson said his task force would embark on a three-year gang prevention effort. The task force will place less emphasis on enforcement strategies.

Many of the programs the task force will work on are already in place, but the mayor said the new plan would help to coordinate those efforts.

Some key elements of the strategy will be implemented by dozens of law enforcement officers set to be hired with federal grants awarded earlier this year. Other elements of the plan involve existing literacy and internship programs.

The task force is copying gang prevention ideas that have been successful in other cities, including San Jose, the mayor said.

Johnson's gang task force was formed following a community outcry after two people – including a young mother – were gunned down outside a south Sacramento barbershop last December.

Six suspects have been arrested in connection with the Dec. 14, 2010, shooting in the parking lot of the Fly Cuts Barber Shop on Stockton Boulevard.

One of the victims was 30-year-old Monique Nelson, who detectives believe was shot while protecting her 2-year-old son from the gunfire. The other victim was Marvion Barksdale, 20, one of the suspected gunmen in the firefight.

"Hopefully we can stop this nonsense in our area, because it destroys families," said Richard Nelson, brother of Monique Nelson.

Johnson, speaking at the Boys and Girls Club on Lemon Hill Avenue, said the shooting "as a community, woke us up."

The mayor's task force spent the past several months coming up with a game plan to address gang and youth violence.

The plan will represent "a paradigm shift," Johnson said. Most plans that tackle gang violence have "a heavy emphasis on incarceration and enforcement, and we don't want that to be the focus."

Investing in school-based programs, developing strong connections between neighborhoods and law enforcement officers, job development programs, and regional collaboration among police agencies will make up the strategy.

The plan will be aided by nearly $20 million in federal grants given to the Sacramento Police Department and Sacramento Sheriff's Department in September to hire new officers.

Most of the new officers hired by those agencies will be dedicated to gang prevention and enforcement, officials said.

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