For the second year in a row the city of Los Angeles is funding a special program to remove the urban shadows that have allowed street gangs to rule the night across South Central. “Summer Night Lights” keeps 16 parks across crime-ridden neighborhoods illuminated until midnight from Wednesday through Saturday. The program began last year after anti-gang outreach workers raised nearly $1 million in private donations and city officials matched with $1.4 million in public funds to get park lights back on, which has attracted sports leagues, disc jockeys and local residents, including families.
Last year’s inaugural effort caused an 86% drop in homicides and a 17% drop in gang-related violence near the parks, according to police crime statistics. Some parks experienced no homicides for the first summer in years.
The investment in local parks hasn’t preempted the need for traditional law enforcement crackdowns on gang activity. The
FBI’s Operation Knock Out—the largest anti-gang case in U.S. history—has brought indictments against 192 individuals from nine gangs, and last week the FBI arrested nearly a dozen individuals allegedly linked to the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang and accused of narcotics trafficking. Federal law enforcement also announced 16 other gang members were arrested from around Southern California on charges that included possessing firearms, more than 400 rounds of ammunition, and one pound of methamphetamine.
-Noel Brinkerhoff