I have to marvel at the N&R’s coverage over the weekend of Greensboro’s growing gang problem. Through editorials and straight news stories, it’s clear our local paper of record is pushing for intervention rather than traditional law enforcement as a solution to the problem.
This front-pager in yesterday’s edition profiles ex-gang member Keith Lovick’s efforts to keep kids out of gangs. The sentence in bold takes a pretty big leap, in my opinion:
Everyone seems to agree that keeping kids away from gangs is more effective than arresting them after they’ve joined them.
Intervention is an area where Lovick said his group has been trying to help for years — but money for those programs is getting harder to come by.
“We used to do the inner city Hoops Challenge every year,” Lovick said. “We gave away basketballs, bicycles. Pro players would come out and talk to the kids. But because of funding, we haven’t done that in two years.”
Meanwhile, N&R editorial page editor Allen Johnson wonders if the gang problem isn’t being overhyped:
City Council candidates in a forum Thursday night repeatedly endorsed the need for a gang unit on the police force.
Others see these incidents as bad news, for sure, but no sign that Crips and Bloods are about to invade Elm Street. A recent report by the Washington-based Justice Policy Research Institute dispels many of the alarms about gang threats as half-baked and overhyped. It also says gangs account for a very small percentage of violent crimes and, in fact, crimes in general.
That’s a valid point. I’m sure most Greensboro citizens realize that the best way to keep from being a victim of a gang-related crime is to avoid places where gangs hang out. It’s not that hard. But then Johnson drops the other shoe:
Gangs are symptoms of other problems that are tougher and more complex to address. That’s why it may even be a blessing, in a sense, that Greensboro lacks the resources to create a gang unit strictly composed of cops. City Manager Mitchell Johnson has been forced to look beyond the police, into departments such as Parks and Recreation, for help.
Turning to Parks and Recreation for help with gangs. Brilliant, but par for the course. Fortunately, City Councilman Mike Barber has another idea that he floated at the recent candidates’ forum. The N&R expressed its displeasure through some subtle editorializing:
Among the highlights was incumbent District 4 Councilman Mike Barber’s suggestion that the city dump its Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise program to fund a police gang unit.
You almost could hear the jaws drop.
So they say. Personally, I don’t think Barber’s idea is so outrageous, considering the fact that the cost effectiveness of the city’s MWBE programs is highly questionable.
Just to finish things off, today’s edition has yet another feel-good gang story. No comment necessary.
It’s not hard to understand the N&R’s coverage of this issue, because, let’s face it, they’re a typical touchy-feely newspaper. But I’ll try to be fair. Perhaps Police Chief Tim Bellamy isn’t giving them the paper what it needs: A detailed plan of what exactly a gang unit would do to combat the problem on a law enforcement level. If such a plan exists, that is.
