Gang Violence Demands Response

The Los Angeles Police Department has rightly beefed up patrols in the “Witch’s Hat” area of Panorama City, known not only for its shape but its history of drug- and gang-related crimes. Last month the Witch’s Hat made more of this kind of history when it became the site of violence between local gangs that, until now, had peacefully coexisted in the San Fernando Valley.

Two young men, one believed to have ties to the Crips, the other a member of the Bloods, were killed along with a 16-year-old bystander police said had no gang affiliation. The deaths were part of a citywide surge in gang-related shootings. They demand a rigorous response.

After the shootings, city prosecutors filed a lawsuit against the owner of the Cedros Avenue apartment complex where one of the victims was shot and where undercover officers have made a string of drug arrests. The lawsuit charges the building’s owner with failure to repair apartments and protect tenants, part of an approach that sees fighting crime as not just a matter of arresting someone but of addressing long-term problems like derelict buildings where gangs thrive.

A multi-agency response is the best way to ensure that this surge of violence is a blip in the county’s overall declining crime rate and not a new trend upward.