Thread: CA: The Surge Comes to Salinas (combatting Gang violence)

Troy Senik
The Surge Comes to Salinas

A plan to apply counterinsurgency doctrine to gang violence

Communities beset by seemingly unbreakable cycles of violence; law enforcement overmatched to the point of essentially ceding sovereignty to an organized and heavily armed resistance; citizens so intimidated by thugs that they won’t report them to authorities, for fear of retribution. Eight years into the War on Terror, this scenario sounds familiar. But its location isn’t the Sunni Triangle in 2006 or southern Afghanistan today; it’s a farm town on California’s Central Coast.

In Salinas—a predominantly Hispanic, blue-collar community best known for producing John Steinbeck—violence has spiraled out of control. With a population of under 150,000, the city’s homicide rate has rocketed to three times that of Los Angeles, largely the result of fighting between the rival Norteños and Sureños gangs. With murders at an all-time high in 2009 (29 as of late December), residents are understandably frightened. When the police go searching for answers in the aftermath of a gang killing, self-interest prevails. Citizens more confident in the gangs’ ability to retaliate than in the cops’ ability to protect them stay mum.

Salinas’s mayor, Dennis Donohue, and his new police chief, Louis Fetherolf, want to reverse this vicious cycle. They think that they may have found a solution 7,500 miles to the east and 17 miles to the west. Those are the distances to Iraq, where General David Petraeus’s counterinsurgency strategy, generally known as “the surge,â€

Salinas Is a snapshot of what Is happening In many cities across the state of Caleeeeefornia.... This Is what the United States will be like within 20 years If nothing Is done to STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION !!!

As a native of Salinas, California, I am disturbed that this excellent article did NOT appear in the local paper, the Salinas Californian. If you are having to listen to a bunch of open-border, "let the poor illegal aliens come in and make a better life for themselves" locos, have them come to Salinas. Our Latino community makes up about 70 percent of the population, and about 3500 of them are gang family members. If you watched the cold-blooded ruthless psychopath Anton Chirrugh in "No Country for Old Men", or "Little Mago" in "Sin Nombre", then you have a pretty good picture of the monsters that the local, stupid, do-gooding fools think will become little angels once we send them to "Rancho Cielo", the local "Club Med" for "at-risk" youth. The predominant mind set of the local Latinos is that their role is to make babies, and our role is to raise, educate, and provide high-paying jobs for their neglected children. That said, there is absolutely nothing "wrong" with most of the sincerely loyal, hard-working, and appreciative guests who come here. They simply need to leave their life in the shadows of the USA, and return to the bright sunshine of their tierra sagrada. We have far too many young people in this town with less than a college education who desperately need the jobs these Latinos are taking. Our welfare "safety net" is breaking down under the incredible number of homeless, unemployed, and desperate people who are coming here.

Quote: citizens so intimidated by thugs that they won’t report them to authorities, for fear of retribution. Quote:

These good law abiding citizens are now criminals, who also fear retribution from the law for not reporting crimes. Can they even testify in court against these thugs, without facing punishment? There is a new law that says failing to report crimes are misdemeanors, which I think is ridiculous in itself, and UN-Constitutional (cruel and unusual punishment, Amendment #8 of the Bill of Rights) considering the amount of gangs we have in America now subverting the Christian way of life. The entire issue of law enforcement once turning a blind eye to gangbangers, created a vortex that made everyone a criminal here. It IS the PROBLEM that PLAGUES California.

Quote:Through community policing, Bratton emphasized the need for a permanent, visible police presence, just as Petraeus. Quote:

Did he ever get tough on gangs? I thought Community Policing was made by and for Gangbangers. Gangbangers create fear and intimidation to the people at large? Why are authorities just now getting really tough on gangs , and drug cartels? Because Bratton is gone, or people are waking up, or both? I don't think I ever liked the idea of Community Policing. Am I the only one seeing the Exodus of Americans from California take place, and they mostly are running from Gangbangers and their tact? I should think not.