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| Spotlight on violence editorial: Taking back our streets |
| By dailypress.com |
| Published: 04/10/2013 |
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VIRGINIA - Addressing the problems of gang activity and community violence is a challenge for any law enforcement agency. It's not as simple as putting more cops on the street, making more arrests, or hiring new social workers. Yet when a mother is shot while trying to protect her young sons in their apartment courtyard, or a 17-year old shoots a man dead at a bus stop for a wallet and a cell phone, or a 13-year-old is shot by another teen on a sidewalk — each of these incidents took place within the last year in Newport News — everyone cries out for solutions. Ads by Google After two years of indecision on the best approach to the problem, the Newport News City Council has included a new $1.1 million anti-gang initiative in its 2013-14 budget. The plan covers a range of efforts, each bearing a cost: $445,000 for workforce development, prisoner reentry and similar transition programs; $327,000 for partnerships with youth agencies that engage teens in positive, skill-building activities; $263,000 for community policing and other law enforcement initiatives; $65,000 for coordinating efforts. Programs such as these, which reach out to youth in an attempt to reverse the disturbing cycle of crime, drugs and violence, may do some good in individual cases. Success could be measured in part by reduced recidivism rates or employment placements. What's more difficult to measure is the impact these programs have on the larger community. How do you adequately measure the comfort level of mothers that their children are safe in their own yards? Or a teen's chances of reaching age 25 and becoming employed at a decent-paying job? Or the confidence of law-abiding citizens that's it possible to wait for a bus without being attacked? Read More. |
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