Hardline policing fails against Latam gangs -study
08 Feb 2007 20:27:04 GMT Source: Reuters
By David Alexander WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Heavy-handed police tactics against youth gangs in Central America have failed to reduce their criminal activity and have driven the gangs to become better organized and more dangerous, researchers who conducted a six-nation study said on Thursday. The study, led by researchers at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, found that gangs, known as "maras," pose a serious threat to public security in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, where police crackdowns have led them to evolve from disorganized local groups into more heavily armed, violent and better organized bands. "Zero tolerance, mano duro (hard-handed), sorts of strategies have not been effective in reducing crime levels or in disrupting gang organization," said Geoff Thale, of the Washington Office on Latin America, which took part in the research. "In fact," he said, "I think there's a lot of evidence in this study to suggest that in response to zero tolerance, mano duro strategies, gangs in the northern triangle countries of Central America have actually gotten more organized and become a bigger rather than a smaller threat." The year-long study concluded that the transnational reach of some of the gangs, like the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13, has been overstated by politicians, police agencies and media. Gang and former gang members interviewed by the researchers reported international contact, but it was generally for personal reasons rather than coordination of criminal activity. The transnational gangs have made few inroads into southern Mexico, where they have been limited by local gangs sometimes affiliated with corrupt police, and Nicaragua, which has a community approach to policing and where gangs tend to be highly local, said Rafael Fernandez de Castro, a leader of the study. INTEGRATED APPROACH Some of the gangs, like Mara Salvatrucha, are active in hot spots in the Washington area, but do not pose a critical problem for public safety, the researchers said. The study did not look at Los Angeles, where Mara Salvatrucha originated among Salvadoran immigrants in the 1980s and 1990s. "The problem needs to be demystified," Thale said. "The study shows that the situation is different in every country, that country responses need to be different." The researchers urged governments to move away from zero tolerance policing and instead use an approach that combines enforcement with intervention and rehabilitation. They cited the example of Washington, where gang activity prompted the creation of a police gang unit as well as school and community outreach programs. They also called for programs to help former gang members find work and to steer young people away from gangs toward educational and sporting activities. The studies suggested the gang problem should be addressed with "an integrated approach that is not only policing, but involves prevention and rehabilitation as well," Thale said. "And on the policing front, what is required is not sort of broad-brush, lock-them-up policing, but smarter and more sophisticated strategies combined with programs of prevention and rehabilitation." Earlier on Thursday, newspapers in Los Angeles reported that police there would publicly name 11 of the city's worst street gangs and put some members on the FBI's national most wanted list. In an announcement expected later on Thursday, a "gang czar" would be appointed and police officers redeployed to gang-infested areas in a much-anticipated offensive to stem an alarming increase in drive-by shootings and murders in a city which has an estimated 720 gangs with some 40,000 members.
