Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
The Daily News began popping out an eight-day series on gang violence in Sunday's paper, representing four months of work. It's in the other L.A. News Group papers as well, repackaged and renamed (the San Bernardino Sun and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, for example, are only running it for three days). The key staffers for the Daily News are reporter Beth Barrett and photographer Hans Gutknecht. Sunday's opener, headlined "Homegrown Terror: No part of Southland untouched by violence," leads with the statement that gangs have "spread across Southern California and beyond" and adds the fact that membership has exploded since "the 1960s." No news there, but it goes on to report more on the extent of the problem. Inside is a large graphic mapping gang homicides by area. Today's main piece by Barrett and Phillip W. Browne opens this way:
For three decades, police across Southern California have fought a losing war against street gangs, handcuffed by inadequate resources even as the number of gangsters exploded along with the violence, drug dealing and other crimes they bring with them.
The DN website mentions a blog where reporters will write about their ride-along experiences. So far there's just one posting, apparently by Barrett, that talks about the toll on kids and ends with her saying it all "makes you want to cry." Predictably, I guess, the first comment is from a wingnut who proposes that Army Reserves and National Guard troops be called out to "open fire on taggers and low-riders ... they'll get the message from the barrel of an AK-47 or Browning 50 cal !!!" At least he gives his name.