Anti-crime teams sent to 4 more cities

Source: On yahoo.com from AP

A violent crime spike in four cities led the Justice Department on Friday to dispatch additional teams of federal agents to combat guns, gangs or surging murder rates in Mesa, Ariz.; Orlando, Fla.; San Bernardino, Calif., and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070602/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/crime_fighting

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Reading this article, I found myself wondering what the Federal Justice Department is doing in these cities. Why Puerto Rico, Florida, and southern California and Arizona. Are we moving toward a war in our southern hemisphere? Is this preparatory to what? I am well aware of the difference between Justice and the military. However, something about this does not seem right. Maybe it is that Bush and Gonzalez are behind it. So, who will be picked up? Where will they be detained? How will they be treated. Is this the beginning of justification for our own desaparacidos?

master and have his master call his appointed judges to "fix" the problem. Aren't the courts now stacked with bush appointees ?

Part of his Homeland Security Directives

Has anyone seen any media focus on it?

Just viewing it through the lens of a national police is disturbing.

Maybe i am missing something.

Why not send agents to San Diego or Los Angeles?

Too many aware folks in those areas?

Why gang rather than organized crime?

Why not white supremacists?

The murder rate in Orlando is up over last year at this time, and it was high then. Tourist areas and downtown Orlando are most affected by increase in violent crime. The police are looking for new ways to combat it and get it under control. ATF has sent a task force and the Guardian Angels have arrived too.

My gut on this is the economy is forcing more and more people to commit criminal acts -- robbery, drug dealing, etc. But we'll never hear that.

which might also be related to the economy; if young people can't find work, they'll spend their time trying to get money some other way (which is no excuse, of course). I live in Downtown Orlando; a nice neighborhood, but even here there have been shootings less than a half mile from my home. I don't know exactly what is causing it all, but I always wonder how people are able to eat after shopping at the local Publix. I know that food prices here are considerably higher than in much of the rest of the country, and I can't help but wonder if that fact has caused some desperation.

while admittedly I don't keep up on the local news like I do the world news, but I live a mile from Mesa city limits. I haven't really picked up on any big, extraordinary crime waves. Actually, I remember times in the past when there seemed to be much worse problems. Perhaps, I should read more of the Arizona Republic than the editorial pages.

What is the real deal with this.

I read the article. it reads like gangs in this country are growing like the mob did some 75 yrs ago.
Problem is,today,
Elliot Ness would be thrown in jail for using excess force to clean up the cities where the gangland industry flourished.

they're ILLEGAL! We'll see if there's a pattern.

I don't know. However, it seems I did not really glean the same message from the article that you did.

According to the article....it's not really about augmenting the communities resources.....



If anything, there seems to be some really good examples of how they detract from the local efforts.


With me the war and news of the war tends to overshadow almost everything else...but it seems I hear and read much less about gangs and gang activities. Is there an increase in the gang world? Can you direct me to some additional information?

In case you are interested.....I did try to find out about the increase in violent crime in Mesa Arizona....Here is what I discovered....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1030470

After being on the downslope for much of the 90s and early 00s, gangs are on the upswing now. Personally, I wonder if there's some kind of generational thing going on. I've got 14 year old students that listen to NWA like I listened to the Beatles 15 years ago, when I was their age.

I've also got friends on the gang task force, in the local metropolitan police department, and in the DJJS, and they all swear that gang violence is on the rise. They've got statistics to prove it, too, though I don't have any off hand (there's always google, though).


(On edit: I listened to NWA then, too, but it did not have the gravitas that a seminal band of my parents' generation had.)

but it seems to ring a bell with me.

I'm thinking Blackwater is located in all those areas but my search skills are too feeble to locate where that impression came to me.

Does seem "funny" somehow...

Facilities

The facility, located in North Carolina, is composed of several ranges, indoor, outdoor, urban reproductions and has over 7,000 acres (28 km²) of land spanning Camden and Currituck counties.

It is one of the largest firearms training facilities in the world. Company literature claims that the company runs "the largest privately owned firearms training facility in the nation."

In November 2006 Blackwater USA announced it recently acquired an 80-acre (30 ha) facility 150 miles (240 km) west of Chicago, in Mount Carroll, Illinois to be called Blackwater North. That facility is now operational.

Blackwater is also trying<2> to open a facility in California for military training,<6> in Potrero, San Diego County.<7><8>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA

That's all I found.

I don't associate that with gangs - anyone on DU from that area can enlighten me?

San Bernardino, in a local article, says their violent crime is down but they welcome the agents. I thought they were going to places where crime is up? Although violent crime is down slightly in San Bernardino, there have already been 23 homicides this year.

Here's a link to a list of cities. I won't vouch for its accuracy.

and when they breed they make bangers. When the really nasty shit happens, it's usually there of Lancaster/Palmdale.