Upon reading the Aug. 12 Page 1 article headlined “5 police forces unite against street gangs,” I was concerned with the “solutions” reported in the article.
In one section it was reported that a youth was thrown spread-eagled on a police car, searched, had his shirt pulled up and his body searched for tattoos. His crime? Wearing a baseball cap to one side–something that many youths do as a matter of fashion, even kids who are not involved in street gangs.
The movement of gangs to the outlying suburbs is indeed a problem, but it is a problem that has roots in troubled family systems, troubled communities, as well as the black market created by current drug policies. By strictly using law enforcement, the street-gang problem is suppressed but not stopped, and everyone’s precious civil liberties are severely eroded in the process. Only by addressing the causes of the gang problem by investing in communities and families and reforming drug laws will we finally have a handle on the growing gang problem.
