Meeting to ask residents what can be done to prevent shootings

Seems people are growing weary of the gang war and the related shootings and are holding a weekend meeting to solve it.The one thing I can guarantee you that they won't hear is that the longer drug prohibition continues and the tougher law enforcement cracks down.The more desperate and violent will be those that take on the dealing of illicit substances.In my day there were a lot of people dealing and very few of them were what you'd call dangerous.They'd never let on but once you knew who they were they just weren't violent people.The truly violent stood out and everybody on both sides of the issue knew who was dangerous.Anybody is capable of just about anything in certain situations but planning and executing hits was so rare that when it happened it was news.Now these guys do it as a business decision.The police kept getting more and more money for drug operations and eventually the only people doing things in a sophisticated manner were the organized crime groups.The old groups are insignificant and most are dead.Now these groups form in school and their bond is tight and they're young enough to think they're bullet proof.Most are organized on ethnic lines but some take anyone they feel is tough enough or crazy enough to do them a service.We are still waiting for an arrest in a marked hit.The cops keep saying they're making progress but they never catch anybody.Simple fact is that these gangs have so much money and are so tech savvy that the cops are years away from putting together enough intelligence to be effective.That's due,in large part to their denial that a gang squad was even necessary.They have consistently refused outside help.Guess who's paying the price.