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EDITORIAL MAKING L.A. SAFE REAL LIFE BELIES GOOD NEWS IN LAPD CRIME STATS.


ON Monday, the Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).

This article or section is written like an .
 announced some very good news, but no one was celebrating, not even Chief William Bratton.

That's because the good news - violent crime dropped dramatically in the first quarter of 2005 - was drowned out Drowned Out is a 2002 documentary by Franny Armstrong about the controversial Sardar Sarovar Project. It closely follows a family that is unwilling to leave its village home as the water levels of the Narmada River, mostly because the government provides them no viable  by eight separate stories of tragedy. Over the weekend, Los Angeles witnessed eight killings, each of which devastated dev·as·tate  
tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates
1. To lay waste; destroy.

2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark.
 a family and terrified ter·ri·fy  
tr.v. ter·ri·fied, ter·ri·fy·ing, ter·ri·fies
1. To fill with terror; make deeply afraid. See Synonyms at frighten.

2. To menace or threaten; intimidate.
 a community.

Take the killing of Alonso Morquecho in Pacoima. The young father was shot by gang members for no apparent reason, outside his own home, in front of his wife and two young children.

Now add seven more sad tales, each with its own victim. No statistic in the world can ever make that kind of anguish or suffering disappear.

Yes, we can take heart in the LAPD's heroic efforts to make this a safer city, despite the department's chronic lack of manpower and resources. With gang arrests up 13 percent and violent crime down 27 percent compared to the same time last year, the department is clearly making great progress.

But, as the weekend's carnage makes all too clear, the lethal and entrenched en·trench   also in·trench
v. en·trenched, en·trench·ing, en·trench·es

v.tr.
1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending.

2.
 gang culture will not simply fade away. We have a long way to go before L.A. is a truly safe city, one where all neighborhoods are largely free from the constant threat of violent crime.

Credit goes to the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel.
2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department.
 for leading the way in making Los Angeles that kind of city, but winning the war on gang culture will take more than just aggressive policing. The mayor, the City Council, the County Board of Supervisors The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.
The Board of Supervisors is the body governing counties in the U.S.
 and school officials must all get involved, too.

Local leaders must invest not only in beefing up policing, but also in the gang-intervention, education, counseling, family stabilization and youth programs necessary to radically overhaul the gang culture. Working with community groups, local leadership needs to go after the root causes that are the worst source of most senseless crime.

Only then can we really celebrate our efforts.
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Title Annotation:Editorial
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Article Type:Editorial
Date:Apr 13, 2005
Words:331
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