20 May 02

>From a friend with the Traffic Police in Capetown SA, on local gangs:

"Gang violence (continuing turf wars) has rocked our suburbs this week. Six people have been killed this week, among them an unborn child struck in his mother's womb and an eight-year-old boy. Gangsters here will shoot at the drop of a hat. They are incompetent, of course, but the sheer volume of shooting insures a high casualty rate.

In much of the city, gangs are, in fact, the unofficial government. The "official" government has no presence in gang areas and is generally neither acknowledged nor respected.

Gangsters have a whistle system. When a police vehicle enters a gang area, officers will wait until they hear the whistles. That is the signal that their presence has been noted and that they can proceed, in 'guest status,' to the accident scene or whatever duty needs to be performed."

Lesson: When police make "deals" and "arrangements" with criminals (let's call them what they are), rather than enforcing the law, the status of the entire police department and the municipal government itself sinks to one of "just another gang." A situation where two "governments" claim the same real estate is inherently unstable. Criminals don't need to be negotiated with. They need to be eliminated.

/John