Community, police vs. gangs in G'boro

I live in Greensboro, NC, a really nice Southern city with both a significant civil rights history and some serious racial trouble in its recent past, especially with regard to the city's police department. Famously, that would include the 1979 Klan-Communist shootings (still incorrectly referred to as the Klan-Nazi shootings, as though the Communist Workers Party wasn't involved; such is the memory hole, sadly enough). Less well-known, at least outside our area, is the recent brouhaha involving a "black book" of investigated officers that resulted in the ouster of the police chief, and lots of back-room political dealing that went along with that (including enough race cards played to trump the deck).

So, it's good to see -- and right to call attention to -- the success GPD is having dealing with gangs in our area. Greensboro is certainly not unique among smaller cities; the well-organized transnational criminal organizations that have infested cities throughout the world are here, as well. But GPD hasn't waited for the problem to become big enough to deal with; they've been proactive with it. And their two-pronged approach, in cahoots with the community and neighborhoods at large, is proving successful, as our newspaper reports:

An early success for the new team has been the arrest of two top leaders of the local Latin Kings gang on embezzlement and money laundering charges and three others on charges of attempted murder.

The leader of another Latin gang, MS-13, was charged with driving without a license. An illegal immigrant, he is now in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in the process of being deported, said Sgt. R.H. Sizemore, who leads one of two teams on the gang enforcement squad.

"There is no gang legislation, so we have to make the laws that are out there work for us," Sizemore said

Having just returned home from radical neck dissection surgery (to remove lymph nodes, two of which turned out to have melanoma present) and recuperation to my home, I can appreciate the metaphoric value of clearing out a problem before it becomes an infestation. My townhome was completely infested with roaches -- I knew I had a problem, but didn't know how bad it was until the exterminator worked with my family members to

Cockroaches, like gangs, feed on their surroundings and on their own. My hat's off to GPD and community leaders and members -- parents, teens, pastors, activists, officers, everyone -- for shining light on the problem and confronting it head on. We may never know how many lives have been saved from this scourge by the courage these folks have shown.

Photo: FBI.gov
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