Casualties of a War Waged by Criminals : * Monument in Brea Is a Sad Reminder of Our Inability to Stem Society’s Violence

The monument at Memory Garden Memorial Park in Brea doesn’t have the public impact of the memorial to Vietnam War dead in Washington. And the people remembered in names inscribed in Brea didn’t die in the service of their country.

But they, too, are casualties of a war of crime and violence. It’s a war that many people, especially the survivors of crime victims, believe that the community is losing.

Crime, and the fear of crime, is increasingly present in residents’ minds. Hardly a day passes when someone in Orange County isn’t murdered or killed by a drunk driver. (In 1990, there were 149 people murdered and 108 others killed by drunk drivers). People see the county’s jails overflowing. Gangs have taken over some neighborhoods.

The Crime Victims Memorial Monument is a reminder of the price that violence exacts in the community. The names inscribed on its granite markers are in remembrance of men, women and children, our neighbors, who died violent deaths at the hands of others. They were shot, stabbed, strangled--or they were killed by drunk drivers.

The community probably wouldn’t recognize most names on the markers. Sightseers don’t crowd past them. The people who go there are mainly the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives and sons and daughters of the dead, and the survivors and living victims who mourn the violent and early deaths of their loved ones.

The monument was built and dedicated April 26 to honor the dead and keep their memory alive. But it also serves as a constant reminder to the community of how needless and senseless these deaths were. There are about 100 names now recorded on the memorial markers. There is room for more than 1,000. The community should join the survivors in resolving to keep more names from inscription by combatting the complex societal problems that result in these crimes.