Gangs a Top of Utah problem
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e hope readers had a chance to look at the obituaries last week. Among the names of the young persons who died too soon in life were Sabrina Prieto, 22, and Rosendo Nava Nevarez, 29.
Sabrina is described as a woman who "loved to make people smile and laugh." Rosendo, the obituary read, "could walk in as a stranger and walk out as a friend." He will become father to a baby girl very soon.
Both of these two young people were employed locally. Both were loved by many. And they were murdered in cold blood, victims of a Top of Utah gang battle.
The term "gang shootings" can seem emotionless to many of us. We read of gang slayings and perhaps mistakenly regard it as just two sides of criminals killing each other. That's why we took the time to describe Prieto and Nava Nevarez. They had lives, very similar to most of ours, outside the headlines and news stories. Their deaths were senseless; two people caught in a deadly crossfire.
Ogden has seen a significant spike in gang-related violence since early July, culminating in the deaths of Prieto and Nava Nevarez and an alleged "revenge shooting" soon afterwards. We are pleased Ogden police have arrested a suspect in the killings. But there is a lot of work to do to stop future violence.
In the Standard-Examiner today, we have several articles that address Top of Utah gangs and the crime and violence they cause. We have a huge problem with gangs. But to consider it as only an Ogden problem is a big mistake. Gangs are a Top of Utah problem, period.
According to the Ogden Police Gang Unit's data, there are nearly 1,800 documented gang members in Weber County. Only about 400 of those live in Ogden.
Ogden officials insist that gang violence is actually down this year. Frankly, then, we should consider ourselves lucky there weren't more deaths last year. Despite the rhetoric, we are pleased with Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey and Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner's plans to upgrade police efforts against gangs. These include:
* adding two new "nontolerance patrol units" to increase gang surveillance
* adding a new policing area and redrawing borders for police zones
* hiring six new officers
* getting Congress to bring two more immigration agents to crack down on crimes by illegal aliens
* working with Ogden landlords to identify and evict known gang members
* working with the state to get more prison space
These are all solid ideas and we urge the Ogden City Council to do what they can to help. But we repeat -- more areas than just Ogden need to be addressed. If we concentrate on only cracking down on Ogden, gangs here will move to other Top of Utah cities. We urge Ogden to join with other Top of Utah cities and communities and make this a cooperative fight against gangs. Look to other cities that have had success against gangs for ideas.
In the legislative arena, we hope a bipartisan anti-gang bill from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., becomes law. It would federalize many gang-related crimes, adding stiffer sentences and federal crime-fighting dollars.
To sum up, fighting gang criminality is more than just a a police concern. It requires prevention, intervention and suppression. No single entity can do all of that by itself. Putting down the pernicious influence and deadly criminal activities are the responsibility of the community, the family, citizens, legislatures, prosecutors and the courts.
We appreciate the New York-based Guardian Angels coming to patrol Ogden streets where the killings occurred and recruiting members for a local chapter. But to defeat gangs, we need parents to be good influences for their children, schools to educate the children well, and many positive role models and mentors in the communities.
If we have that solid foundation, it will make the work of law enforcement and the courts more effective. And, hopefully, obituary notices such as we read last week won't be repeated.
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