Bring back the "Yellow Shirts."

That's a key recommendation from Lancaster mayoral candidate Charlie Smithgall, who says crime has become such a problem that a more aggressive law-enforcement approach is needed.

It's a recommendation certain to be controversial, as the Yellow Shirts — the Lancaster Bureau of Police's Street Operations Group — were a ubiquitous presence on city streets for more than a decade, making arrests as well as generating complaints.

Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray said the Street Operations Group has never gone away. Though the unit might not wear the gold T-shirts, it's still used, Gray said.

Smithgall, he said, "doesn't know what he's talking about."

Crime or the perception of crime is turning into the key issue in the race for mayor. Smithgall, the Republican former mayor, has hammered hard on the issue, accusing Democrat Gray of not supporting the police department. Smithgall last week released a seven-point "Plan to Combat Crime and Protect Our Community," which, among other things, promised to "put more officers on the street" and reinstate the Lancaster Crime Commission to study disorder in the city once again.

Smithgall also said that, if elected, he'll retain Lancaster Bureau of Police Chief Keith Sadler.

Gray, pointing to statistics that show crime in the city has remained steady, said the systemic approach his administration has taken is working. It's not always about more cops, the mayor said; he's focused on problem landlords, disruptive tenants, dilapidated properties and a broader strategy of "fixing broken windows" that sends a message that crime won't be tolerated.

"We're dealing with crime in a proactive way," Gray said. "And it's working."

Opinion vs. statistics
Statistics show that city crime has remained relatively constant. Public opinion doesn't always reflect that.

According to FBI Uniform Crime reports, there were 532 violent crimes in the city in 2006. In 2008, that number was 534. Property crimes — including motor vehicle theft, arson, burglary and larceny/theft — totaled 3,164 in 2006 and 3,075 in 2008.

But some city residents say it feels as if crime is increasing. Smithgall said it's the No. 1 concern he hears when he's out campaigning.

"This neighborhood's seen a rash of break-ins," he said of the area around his pharmacy at Lemon and North Pine streets in the city's northwest.

Smithgall's son-in-law is a police officer; crime is a near and dear issue. And whatever the statistics say, Smithgall said it's the mayor's job to address the citizens' fears.

He'd do that by hiring more police officers, he said. He wasn't specific about how he'd pay for them; public safety already eats up much of the city's budget, but Smithgall said he was sure other positions could be cut and high-paid city employees replaced with lower-paid ones.

"I'm not saying we can't worry about money," he said, "but what's more important — putting in brick sidewalks, or police? Hiring an art director or police?"

The city, he thinks, needs to be more aggressive in fighting crime. That's why he wants to bring the Yellow Shirts back, "maybe not in [the original] form or at that intensity... but you've got to keep the criminals off balance."

Smithgall said Gray doesn't like the Yellow Shirts. Not true, Gray said.

But in a 2007 Sunday News article, Gray and then-police-chief Sam Gatchell acknowledged that the aggressive tactics of the Yellow Shirts had generated numerous complaints from citizens, and some of their actions could have endangered criminal prosecutions.

"If police do not act within the law when apprehending criminals, they in effect allow the criminal to escape punishment," Gray subsequently told Lancaster City Council. "In other words, allowing the police to 'do whatever they want' may play well by politicians in the press, but it doesn't work in front of judges and courts."

The Street Operations Groups began under Democratic Mayor Janice Stork in the early 1990s. By 1996, the Yellow Shirts were being credited with a major drop in violent crime, but citizens began complaining that they routinely harassed, photographed and detained young men not engaged in criminal activity.

"There's a fine line between power and justice," Smithgall said last week. "But the thing about the Yellow Shirts is, when they showed up, all the bad guys went away."

There's been speculation that, if elected, Smithgall might want to appoint a new police chief. Smithgall put that to rest last week, saying city police officers seem to have a uniformly high opinion of Chief Sadler, and "I'd give him a chance."

Smithgall's other public safety goals include "smart policing," including using "technology and new advancements in law enforcement to target problem areas and flood these areas with resources." He wants to mimic a Baltimore, Md., "Adopt-a-Block" program and encourage citizen foot patrols. He wants to reinstate the "crime mapping" system that plotted crime scenes on the police Web site and have police issue weekly "Top 10" crime locations using the Web and other social media.

He also wants to foster a closer relationship between the police and the city Housing Authority, crack down on nuisance crime, and reinstate the Lancaster Crime Commission, which issued a landmark 2003 report that recommended the city focus on nuisance crimes, "fixing broken windows" before they turn into bigger problems. Smithgall said he wholly supports that approach.

That makes two mayoral candidates.

Gray said his administration's focus on fixing broken windows has been a major reason why crime hasn't risen in the city.

"We've done almost 6,000 interior inspections of rental properties, sent [thousands of] property violation notices. We have school resource officers in the high and junior high schools. We're dealing with the causes of crime in a proactive way."

Gray also touted innovative programs like the High Point Project — a new violent crime reduction initiative developed in High Point, N.C., which involves targeting specific neighborhoods where drugs and drug-related violence are a problem. Undercover police buy drugs in those neighborhoods and then provide some specially chosen dealers with the opportunity to go straight or go to jail.

As he did at a candidates' forum last week, Gray dismissed Smithgall's accusation that he's cut 17 police positions. Gray acknowledged that the number of officers is down to 160 from 171, but said five of those positions were held by officers on light duty, some of whom hadn't been patrolling the streets for years.

When he ran for mayor in 2005, "we actually had more officers, but we had more crime, too," Gray said. "You can be really simplistic and say we need more police officers, but when do you have enough? It doesn't affect the cause of crime. We're dealing with the causes of crime in a proactive way."

And Gray said that come Jan. 1, with city officers no longer patrolling Lancaster Township, city police will actually have more resources available for the city itself.

He acknowledged that crime is a big issue, and some people bring it up while he's out campaigning. But, he said, "a lot of people don't.

"There are so many positive things going on in this city right now, to just dwell on crime is irresponsible," he said.