Race-based violence has even found its way into our school system, although no deaths have been reported. Some say it's always been there, but it certainly is rearing its ugly head now more than ever. Most recently, fighting broke out in May between more than 600 black and brown students at Locke High School in South L.A.
The racial divide is being driven by the ongoing population growth and demographic changes that have buffeted L.A. for decades. The perception that one group has more opportunities and advantages than another can lead to resentment, competition and, ultimately, spontaneous eruptions of violence.
So where does this leave us? How does this information help?
I have begun a process in my headquarters in which analysts are poring over data collected from various sources throughout the county to help us understand exactly what gang crimes are underway -- and where -- in real time. I call it a Gang Emergency Operations Center.
It's about more than just identifying problem areas and moving more police there. In fact, it is not a suppression model at all, but an intervention and prevention model aimed at ensuring that those who need social services get them. Most important, it will serve as a fusion center for sharing information. Such centers -- like the federal Joint Regional Intelligence Center, which combats terrorism -- have more than proved their worth.
But as we gather this data, the race issue must be part of the equation -- because if it isn't, we are not analyzing the data correctly. Crimes with a racial component must be categorized and studied to help us better understand the problem. Racial issues must then be addressed through education and awareness.
The problem of interracial violence is not intractable; we've made progress in other settings. I have seen it on a small scale in the Sheriff's Department's Domestic Violence Prevention Program in our jails.
It happened like this. Inmates with a history of domestic violence -- sometimes known members of opposing gangs -- were forced to attend this program or be remanded to custody for a significant amount of state prison time. Those who agreed to participate would sit together and discuss various topics of interest. They would eat meals together and live together in housing set aside for them.
The program was designed to address issues of domestic violence. But over a period of weeks, the participants overcame barriers by being exposed to those they were supposed to hate. They began to form friendships -- friendships that, in some cases, have lasted outside the jail walls.
This may seem like an insignificant occurrence to those who are uninformed about gang life and racial tension. But it is not. People who would shoot each other as easily as kick a can were taking meals together, talking together and living together without violence.
The better we understand the crisis, the better chance we have of solving it. It is difficult to believe that something as simple as gathering information, analyzing it and then putting it into action -- whether through suppression, intervention or prevention -- will have any effect. But it will. It is a proven formula.
The unification of information, dispassionately collected and analyzed, will lead us toward a disarming of the gang culture. And through disarmament, we will make the streets safer. And that's the whole point.
