Greg Boyle

We don't need a specialized gang unit. We need patrol officers who specialize in knowing their community. ”

If the Los Angeles Police Department had enough officers, it could focus on one part of the community and stay there long enough to know and respect the people the officers are called on to protect and serve. ”

You prevent kids from joining gangs by offering after-school programs, sports, mentoring, and positive engagement with adults. You intervene with gang members by offering alternatives and employment to help redirect their lives. You deal with areas of high gang crime activity with real community policing. We know what works. ”

In Los Angeles, the gang capital of the world, we have 1,100 gangs and 120,000 gang members so it is a daunting, complex social dilemma. ”

What do we know to be true about gang violence? We know we will fail if we fixate on the symptoms and not address what undergirds it. ”

The truth is this: Brutalized, victimized children invariably will brutalize and victimize when they grow up. Is our only response to this the certain promise that we will penalize them when they do? Or will we commit to keeping our children safe from brutality and victimization? ”

Children find themselves adrift not because the informational signposts are illegible, but because there is no one around to guide and accompany them. ”

Showing up in the lives of children is everything. ”

The highest religious and spiritual ideals of any faith would invite us to a compassion for all lives destroyed by the violence that plagues us. ”

The mark of our society as civilized will come when we embrace confidence in the power of redemption. ”