To Address L.A.’s Gangs, Know the Territory

Re “City Declares War on Gangs,” Dec. 4: If LAPD Chief William Bratton hopes to generate a lot of symbolic excitement surrounding the topic of gangs, then he’s done excellent work so far. As far as actually addressing the gang issue, however, Bratton will soon find that locking everybody up has never worked in L.A. and never will.

His plan to attack gangs as he attacked the Mafia in New York is structurally misguided. Gangs in L.A. are not hierarchical. Their leadership is anarchic. That there is no president of all gangs or even sometimes of single gangs makes them difficult to attack in a top-down manner.

Paradoxically, increased penal sentences only tend to strengthen street-to-prison networks -- and prison itself has helped to create entities that unfortunately do resemble the Mafia: prison gangs. Their power will only grow with the punitive tactics the chief is proposing.

Gangs in Los Angeles are here to stay. Hope remains in the fact that gang members often agree that they are caught up in cycles of violence they cannot control. Finding ways to bridge these worlds through education, employment, community development and local leadership is a much more difficult job. I want to know if the chief is up to the task of actually learning about L.A. gangs and taking appropriate steps that require commitment and understanding rather than shortsighted condemnation. For all of our sakes, I hope he is.

Susan A. Phillips

Director, Center for Calif.

Cultural and Social Issues

Pitzer College, Claremont

*

Re “In Gangs’ Territory, a Weary Hope,” Dec. 5: As long as people like Father Greg Boyle coddle gang members, most of whom never pay for the murders and terror they bring to the community, and as long as parents teach their kids to fear and distrust the police, the “cycle of gang violence” will continue. Organized or disorganized, these gangs are made up of sociopaths with no concern for human life (other than their own). Hurray for Bratton -- let’s all support him. It couldn’t get any worse.

Samuel J. Phipps

Los Angeles