The following is from a lengthy comment I recently posted on the SGV Tribune Crime Scene Blog.
On Monrovia:
Neighborhood Watch and community unity are good things. We have strongly advocated such things in the North Primrose Neighborhood. But, much the same as with our speeding issue, the community can only do so much.
The bottom line is, the racist thugs who are behind these killings only understand the law of the street - bigger and badder wins.
We can hold hands and hum, but until the cops find these thugs and put them in jail for whatever charge they can, nothing will change.
The City's other resources can be brought to bear with aggressive code enforcement and other methods. How about redeveloping a quarter of the houses in that neighborhood into a community for the IT professionals on Huntington or for new cops who can't afford to live this far west? That solves several problems.
Those are creative solutions for the long term, but, for the short term, the only solution is to put the fear of God in these punks.
It is important to make clear that this is not a Monrovia problem. It is a regional problem. Many of the shootings have occurred in an area the media calls "unincorporated Monrovia." Well, it might was well be "North El Monte" or "East Arcadia" or "West Irwindale" [I prefer that!] or just plain "Los Angeles County." MPD cannot patrol that neighborhood, and what happens there is not MPD's responsibility. Moreover, gangs do not recognize borders. Of the three involved gangs (whose names I'll not use), only one is truly a Monrovia-based enterprise. Chief Johnson does not have enough bodies to patrol Monrovia proper - not enough to control speeding on the streets. How the hell is he supposed to police West Irwindale also?
We also have to acknowledge that the victims in these cases bring a lot of it on themselves. Consider the intellectual dissonance of this statement in today's Trib:
...."The house (where last night's raid occurrred) was where 64-year-old Sanders "Pete" Rollins - who police say had no gang ties - was shot to death Jan. 13 as he walked to his front door."
Well, if he had no gang ties, why are the cops raiding his house, looking for a gun? Because someone in his home DID have gang ties. Mr. Rollins may well have been an innocent, but if he didn't push whoever is in his house out on the street, you can hardly say he had no gang ties.
Now, unfortunately, things seem to have devolved to a point where true innocents - Day Day and Sammantha Salas - are in danger.
That's because this problem wasn't nipped at the bud. Well, the cat's out of the bag now, and a whole lot of resources - and community effort - are going to be required to get it back in. Only time will tell how many folks get cut and scratched in the mele.
Great comments. Too many don't understand the jurisdictional issues. I get it. I am appreciative others were raising their voices as it took County action involvement to help get the arrests we have had.
I won't downplay MPD, actually I praise them as with their staffing issues they have done a very remarkable job. They pulled in all sorts of outside agency's to get a handle on it. 3 arrests so far is a good start.
Now to prevent it in the future its a community issue. It is one where jurisdiction comes into play and this time we need to take the lead and get those in the county land to want to stop it and help us get the whole area under control.
Posted by: frazgo | January 30, 2008 at 10:41 PM
The violence will continue until the city request that the federal government start conducting immigration sweeps with in the city of Monrovia.
It would also help if the City Manager of Monrovia pulled his head out of the sand and start telling the truth to the citizens of Monrovia.
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