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Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Law enforcement is doing its part to fight gangs in Calif.
Now it’s up to residents — especially, parents — to do theirs.
Friday’s multi-agency sweep “cut off the head of the snake” of Pomona’s 12th Street Sharkies gang, as Police Chief James Lewis put it. Operation Fishnet, a cooperative effort by nearly 30 local, state and federal agencies, resulted in the arrests of 57 gangsters, including “old-timers” in their 30s, 40s and even 50s who are leaders of the gang.
This was a big deal. The investigation that culminated in the sweep took more than a year and involved wiretapping, surveillance, informants and undercover operations. The state attorney general’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement’s Gang Suppression Enforcement Team led Friday’s operation, which included Pomona, La Verne, Ontario and Los Angeles police, the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force, the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, among others.
That’s a lot of firepower to concentrate on one town. “This is one of the largest efforts to combat gangs,” state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said outside Pomona City Hall on Monday.
Pomona Mayor Norma Torres and other city leaders have complained in the past that Pomona’s anti-gang effort does not draw enough regional support. That’s no longer the case.
Chief Lewis said Tuesday that gang members have two options after the arrest of many in the gang’s hierarchy: They can jump into the leadership vacuum, or they can take note that gang activity will probably land them in prison eventually and “decide gang life isn’t the path they want to be on.”
Similarly, the city’s parents have two options: They can ignore the whole thing and continue with business as usual, or they can decide to step up and become strong role models for their children to prevent them from sliding into gang life.
“We’ve given them that opportunity,” said Lewis, whose department served gang injunctions last month on members of the city’s Olive Street gang.
Now is the time for Pomona’s parents and other residents to get involved and meet law enforcement halfway in the effort to suppress gang activity. Helping the city’s Youth and Families Task Force in its work is one avenue of action. Another avenue, more fundamental and ultimately more effective, is simply to provide strong parenting.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said Monday in Pomona, “What has to happen is, the community out there plagued with gang crime has to get more involved.” Parents’ lack of involvement is equivalent to “aiding and abetting” gang murders, the DA said.
He’s right.
At a conference in Ontario on Monday, gang experts told local officials that it’s almost impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-gang programs.
But we all know that involved, effective parenting, combined with good educational and employment opportunities, will eliminate the allure of gang involvement.
Now is the time for a critical mass of Pomona residents to show by their actions that they care about the city’s youths. That’s what it will take to turn the town’s fortunes around.