EDITORIAL FIGHTING THE GANGS.IN the past two decades, law enforcement authorities in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. have declared ``war on gangs,'' ``cracked down'' on gangs and made fighting gangs their ``top priority.'' Yet the gangs grow in numbers in numbered parts; as, a book published in numbers. See also: Number , the death toll mounts and more communities are destroyed. That's why it would be easy to dismiss the recent efforts by Los Angeles police officials to rouse the community members in the city to join in as they launch new strategies to fight gangs. Sure, we've all heard that before. But this time, it seems, authorities have more than tough talk to offer. Police Chief William Bratton hasn't just paid lip service lip service n. Verbal expression of agreement or allegiance, unsupported by real conviction or action; hypocritical respect: to the idea of siccing his officers on gang members; he is actually doing it. He hasn't just griped about the lack of community involvement in finding solutions for kids who get tangled up with gangs; he is actually calling people up and saying, ``now's the time.'' Maybe it's just a fluke fluke, parasitic flatworm of the trematoda class, related to the tapeworm. Instead of the cilia, external sense organs, and epidermis of the free-living flatworms, adult flukes have sucking disks with which they cling to their hosts and an external cuticle that , but gang-related crime in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. has dropped by nearly a quarter since the beginning of the year. It's that sort of trend that everyone would like to see continue. Last week, the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. helped a gang summit in the Valley get the local clergy and the community on board and join efforts such as the Valley Coalition on Gangs. There are already examples of how these new strategies are taking shape, such as the multiagency program to put probation officers probation officer n. 1. An official usually attached to a juvenile court and charged with the care of juvenile delinquents. 2. An official charged with supervising convicts at large on suspended sentence or probation. , counselors and job training courses at the Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Park teen center - an area that has long been under the control of hoodlums. Efforts like these are what it will take to end the hold that gangs have over the city's neighborhoods, not periodic sweeps by police squads or periodic jailings of a few gang members. But these efforts only scratch the surface. It will take money and strong leadership and involvement by every aspect of the community - clergy, politicians and activists, businesses and community members. When it comes down to it, gangs are not just a police problem, they are everybody's problem. |
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