Council considers anti-gang programs

ReaL gang suppression begins with strong enforcement of our laws. The link following goes to an investigative report that was just released today about the corruption that has walked in the our District Attorney's office. See it your self http://www.youtube.com/watch...

DUMP COOLEY JUNE 3, 2008

Look at what Janice Hahn in LA does & do the opposite.

I saw NO mention of P.A.L.(the Police Athletic League). Here's a proven program that brings Police Officers and young people together in a very positive way. This is a program that brings kids to facilities co-operated by Police officers and Parks and Rec employees

Granted, in recent years the partnership between Parks, Recreation and Marine and LBPD has been marred by administrative bungling on the part of Parks,(as has been reported in this newspaper), the program nevertheless works and is an important, albeit a small, step in the right direction.

It has become quite obvious that gangs and the violence they bring to Long Beach have become a critical, deadly peril on our streets. How many citizens have been shot or knifed just this year? Quite obviously, the City has to do more than just talk about gangs, but I am delighted that the Council is taking a serious look at the matter. However, there are a number of facts which seem to be overlooked, or at least not addressed.

There are certainly many programs, governmental and private, which are intended to address gang issues. If all the funding for these programs were put into one pot, a scholarship could be funded for every single gang member to attend college. In other words, the money is not being spent wisely. Successful programs have to be identified and fully funded. Less successful programs should be dropped, and their funds applied to the successful ones, or applied temporarily to new ideas, new programs, until it is proved whether those new ideas work or not. Each program needs a set of metrics to identify success or failure. For example, how many kids has this program saved from involvement with gangs? How many gang members has this program convinced to leave the gang and return to civil society as a productive, law abiding citizen?

One item which is totally ignored, at least in this article is the subject of illegal immigrants, and the gangs which they bring with them. Anyone who denies the influence of drug gangs from various parts of Latin America and Mexico is simply burying their head in the sand. These gangs are greatly helped by the efforts of "Sanctuary Cities" to prevent local law enforcement agencies and other governmental contact points from identifying those who are here illegally, whether they have crossed the border without documentation, or whether they have come her legally and overstayed the visa or other document which allowed them to enter the country, and reporting their presence to ICE for disposition. At the very least, our Police Department and the Sheriff's Deputies should be trained in the procedures by ICE, and have the mandate to identify each arrested person, and to inform ICE of any person arrested who is not a legal resident. These are people accused of criminal activity. These are people who rob our businesses and homes, people who shoot guns and use knives on victims in our streets every single day, often killing their victims. These are people who sell drugs to our children. These are people who smuggle others into our country, without the necessary legal niceties. These are people who cost the citizens of Long Beach multiple millions of dollars in terms of education, in terms of health care, in terms of law enforcement expenses, and in terms of incarceration. How can anyone claim that their lack of legal residence is not an issue which needs to be addressed? How can anyone claim that the gangs associated with these people are not a very large part of the problem at hand? Removing just those named expenses would provide money for far greater services to the legal residents of Long Beach, and eliminate any budgetary concerns.

Everybody knows Sanctuary cities are the breeding ground of these Illegal alien racist hate gangs. So the sanctuary cities officials are to blame for letting them flourish by running rampant terrorizing the streets and killing Americans.

This is a complete waste of money.

Instead of trying to coddle gang members, we should be deporting them, evicting them, incarcerating them, or removing them from this earth.

joecairo wrote:

I saw NO mention of P.A.L.(the Police Athletic League). Here's a proven program that brings Police Officers and young people together in a very positive way. This is a program that brings kids to facilities co-operated by Police officers and Parks and Rec employees
Granted, in recent years the partnership between Parks, Recreation and Marine and LBPD has been marred by administrative bungling on the part of Parks,(as has been reported in this newspaper), the program nevertheless works and is an important, albeit a small, step in the right direction.

PAL???!! there is a wasteful program for ya. lets spend millions on 40 kids. Long BEach pays $25k a month for just the north PAL facility. How about take all the wasted money on pal and build supervised skateparks, bike parks, and fund the schools.