Growing gang threat demands enforcement
To keep Greensboro a great place to live, we need to address a problem: Gangs are a growing threat to this community. Mayor Johnson believes that the emphasis should be on prevention instead of punishment. I disagree.
We need to hit the problem at both ends, especially here in Greensboro. Prevention is a great start, but we need to have a plan for the gangs already at large. The place to start is the Greensboro Police Department.
Our Police Department is facing difficult times and it is now time to cut the waste, improve efficiency and hire more officers for the entire city. The Police Department needs to make a decision about officers who have been on paid leave for an extended amount of time. We should, as the saying goes, “use them or lose them.”
The Gang Unit should not be used as a negotiating point in the city budget. The ability to hire and fire in the Police Department should not be the job of the city manager. It should be up to the City Council or the Police Department itself. However, I admit that I do not have any law-enforcement experience, but neither does Mitch Johnson.
Teresa Jobe
Greensboro
Comments (3)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
"To keep Greensboro a great place to live, we need to address a problem: Gangs are a growing threat to this community. Mayor Johnson believes that the emphasis should be on prevention instead of punishment. I disagree."
Sadly the City of Greensboro is not doing a good job of prevention or punishment. The Gang Unit was built by taking officers away from patrol units and GPD patrols were already understaffed by no less than 50% of the manpower needed.
Fact is: Greensboro's Gang Unit, while sorely needed, turned out to be nothing more than a publicity stunt by city leaders and local media took the bait hook, line and sinker.
Posted on June 1, 2008 7:18 AM
Can we use your back yard to build another prison, Teresa?
Did you vote for an added tax to pay for that prison added in your back yard?
Posted on June 1, 2008 8:15 AM
Harsh enforcement is not the answer. It's been tried and is a proven failure.
Once these kids are in gangs, they are pretty much lost. Keeping them out of gangs is the best solution. Mayor Johnson is right about prevention.
Prisons are nothing more than violent warehouses. The people who come out of them are harder, more violent than they were when they went in. Prisons are training academies for violent crime, and nothing more.
Posted on June 1, 2008 7:55 PM