A Call to Action: Curbing Gang-Related Crimes in Los Angeles

Running Head: A Call to Action 1
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Running Head: A Call to Action 2
A Call to Action
‘A Call to Action’ is a report that was developed to curb the escalation of gang-related
crimes in the County of Los Angeles. The gangs had become a menace in the city that the law
enforcement had unsuccessfully tried to manage. The gang increased to more than 100,000
members who terrorized the county. The police had tried to use methods that led to its use of
25bilion dollars during a 30-year span which did not work. It only caused the gangs to retaliate
and increase their gang violence and dealings. The law enforcement to use a more strategic
model that included the community through intervention strategies, community mobilization,
suppression and prevention (Grogger, 2014). It was due to the reason that there were more than
850, 000 children in Los Angeles who needed protection from joining these gangs.
The report was embraced and implemented in the year 2006 with the media highlighting
its prospects. For the first time, there was an assembly of stakeholders who wanted the reduce of
these gangs. The police met with prosecutors and those who headed departments while
deliberating with educators, health officers, and advocates. Five years late in 2011, there was a
positive outcome in Los Angeles. The gang-related crime had reduced with considerable
proportionate of over 15%. There were fewer cases of gang-related homicides in Los Angeles.
The new approach to the violence was based on a community approach (Herbert, 2016). What
was needed was a different culture to be implemented on the youth for them to have a change of
perception. Arrests and re-arrests of the gang members only made matters worse.
The Comprehensive Violence Reduction Strategy (CVRS) ensured that it used innovative
methods that were better positioned to address violence reductions. It worked under three
fundamental principles which included built-in accountability through the whole program,
ensuring that the policy process was solely driven by data and finally that the approaches were