By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES - Just a year ago, police officers were shaking their heads at the image: rival gang members, including the notorious Crips and Bloods, hanging out on street corners, laughing, sharing swigs from 40-ounce beer bottles.
From South Central Los Angeles to Compton, a remarkable truce was taking place. In the area's most crime-plagued neighborhoods, gang members proclaimed an end to the feuds. But whatever peace was reached has dissolved into rejuvenated gang violence reminiscent of the bloodshed that marked the gangs' rise in Los Angeles almost two decades ago.
Police and community leaders vow to rein in gang activity by the time the Democratic National Convention rolls into town next month. But they concede that they were caught off guard by the resurgence, which has helped drive the city's homicide rate up 30% over last year.
"There had been a number of truces," says Capt. Terry Hara, the Los Angeles Police Department's gang enforcement coordinator. "But some of the gangs that appeared to be getting along aren't anymore. I don't know what prompted some of them to begin fighting again."
Whatever the reason, the surge has left the area reeling:
There have been 250 murders in the first half of 2000, compared with 192 deaths during the same time last year. More than 40% of those murders were gang-related, police say.
The city of Compton, a crime-plagued community of 93,000, conceded that it was losing the battle to gang violence and disbanded its police force, turning enforcement over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
A gang member was arrested and accused of gunning down the 20-year-old granddaughter of Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks. The suspect, Samuel Sharad Shabazz, has pleaded not guilty.
Los Angeles and much of Southern California enjoyed a steady decline in violent crime during the past eight years. The number of murders in the city dropped from 1,092 in 1992 to 424 last year. The number of violent crimes plummeted from nearly 90,000 to fewer than 50,000 over the same period. Officials credit the drop to a strong economy, declining unemployment and "gang summits," meetings that brought rival leaders together to resolve conflicts.
But during the past 12 months, experts say, disputes over drug territory have begun driving the numbers back up. "The violence tends to move in cycles," says Los Angeles criminologist Mark Alexander, author of Gangland Rules, a study of the area's more than 400 gangs.
Alexander says that as gang leaders age, "they become less concerned with killing and more concerned with the business side of gang life, like drug sales. You'll see them agree on who gets what street corner and in some cases cooperate with each other."
But as new generations join gangs and rise through the ranks, "the new leaders often feel the need to demonstrate their power with violence," he says. "You get new turf battles."
Los Angeles police have struggled to respond. It recently disbanded one anti-gang unit because of scandal in the department's Rampart division, where officers were accused of framing suspects and stealing evidence.
Other police agencies have been overwhelmed. After Compton, south of Los Angeles, experienced eight gang-related murders in 10 days, the city voted July 11 to disband its 113-officer police force.
City officials defended the decision, arguing that turning enforcement duties over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department would save lives and $7 million a year.
"I do believe the city does need help, obviously, in a reduction of crime," says Frank Wheaton, a City Council spokesman. "The Compton Police Department has done an admirable job for many years, but with the population growing and crime on the increase, perhaps they need some help."
Under the plan, Compton will be policed by 189 sworn personnel, including 81 deputies assigned specifically to the city. The remainder will be members of special units that will cover Compton as well as other areas. The takeover will be completed in September.
The decision sparked protests and marches throughout Compton. Lorraine Cervantes, 59, a local activist, says Mayor Omar Bradley should have put the decision to a citywide vote. "We're living in a democracy, aren't we?" she says.
Other residents say they welcome any change that will bring safer streets.
Jerome Fisher, a local minister for 44 years, says he has officiated at several funerals for slain children, including one for a 16-year-old earlier this month.
"I'm so tired of seeing the slaughter of our children," he says.
Residents throughout Los Angeles are feeling equally anxious. Activists, parents and clergy have staged a half-dozen rallies in the past month to demand the city invest more money in youth recreational activities and anti-gang programs. Last week, City Council member Mark Ridley-Thomas asked the council to approve $5 million for violence prevention.
Some observers, however, say significant change depends on more than city-funded initiatives. William Rodriguez, a Christian lay minister who has helped broker truces among Latino gangs in the San Fernando Valley, blames the glamorization of gang violence in rap music and movies.
"We've opened Pandora's box, and now we cannot close it," Rodriguez says.
Los Angeles police disagree. Hara, the police captain who oversees the department's gang detail, says 228 officers have been assigned to gang detail. In addition, the department has launched several programs to monitor and curb gang membership. In one, police send notes home to parents when children are caught associating with known gang members.
There will be many children to track. According to the department's own figures, there are more than 64,000 gang members in Los Angeles alone.
"There's an increase (in gang activity) without a doubt," Hara says. "Some people are running rampant, some gangs are feuding. But the department and the people in the community aren't sitting idly by. We've enjoyed a decline in crime over the years, and we'll see that again."
L.A.: New generation brings more gangs