Shooting the Public Conscience

A motorist is driving down a street and sees people spray-painting graffiti on a garage door. She hits the brakes and honks to get them to stop. It’s instinctual, normal, the type of action we hope people will take to make our neighborhoods safer.

But in Orange on Monday night, the graffiti vandals did not stop. In an appalling display of arrogance, they sprayed paint on the motorist’s van. Then a companion in the vandals’ car fired a shot through the van, wounding the woman, police said.

The shooting is a distressing commentary on the widespread presence of guns today and the willingness of criminals to use them. It sends a message that, to remain safe, we must sometimes repress our instincts to act. Rather than shout or honk a horn to try to stop a crime in progress, safety may demand that we find a phone and leave it to the police to act.

Police in Orange said they did not think the crime was the work of a member of one of the gangs operating in their city. The street where the attack occurred is not far from Garden Grove, Anaheim and Santa Ana, all of which have had gang problems.

But Orange police wisely decided to add four officers to the six-member unit that monitors gangs. A police spokesman said the department had been thinking about adding more personnel to curb increased activities between two local gangs, and the shooting was the last straw.

Police and prosecutors in Orange County have done a good job in developing special programs to crack down on gang crime. This week the district attorney’s office reported that gang-related killings dropped 40% last year and hit a five-year low--welcome news. But the need for continued vigilance was underscored by the report’s disclosure than 33 new gangs emerged in the county last year.

Police need community help in doing their jobs. Citizens must be willing to get involved in fighting crime. But witnesses also need to think carefully about how best to help; sometimes, unfortunately, the instinct to stop a crime in progress can hurt the very citizen who is trying to act responsibly and improve the community.