A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES : Platform : JOHNNY PERKINS: <i> Leader of Boy Scout Troop 573 in South Los Angeles. Grew up in Nickerson Gardens, lives in Long Beach.</i>

One of the most important ways to prevent violence in our neighborhoods is to head it off before it develops. The young people and adults who are committing these crimes in our community were not born bad. They grew up with no hope or pride in their community.

Parents must be there for their kids. There must be programs these children can join that reinforce the positive. Too many times, these kids are drenched in the negative. Parents and community leaders must provide positive role models.

As a Scout leader, I give these kids something to do--something to look forward to besides the negative things they see in the community.

It’s amazing how much hope a simple camping trip can give to a kid. When we have our meetings, the kids talk about who has been shot and who was killed. I have to convince them each week that they can make themselves a life free of crime and violence. But they can’t do it alone.

There has to be a greater investment in our children by parents and the community. It can’t be done by athletics alone. There has to be a broader outlook on this problem. If we can solve this problem at its source, crime and violence would take care of themselves.

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MAURICE DEIGH: President, Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Gray Panthers. Lives in Studio City.

I’m hoping that our new police chief will implement some of the suggestions for the Los Angeles Police Department. For one thing, it’s important to establish more Neighborhood Watch programs.

But watching our community and forming community patrols is not the only answer. We must start providing job training programs for our youth that will provide them a sense of dignity and responsibility. And communities must provide more settlement houses to get our children off the street.

We must stop arming ourselves, thinking the point of a gun will keep violence out of our lives and community. Too often, those who are arming themselves are becoming a part of the problem and not the solution. We don’t need more guns, we need community interaction with our local police force to keep our neighborhoods safe.

Until we have a community that truly cares about our youth, our cities, communities and neighborhoods will continue to suffer violence. We cannot ignore this or we will all become its victims.

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CHRISTINE HANKINS: Human resource supervisor for nonprofit Community Resources program, Irvine.

An important measure any neighborhood can do is to take time and get to know your neighbor. One thing we all need is to reestablish a sense of community.

Too many times, people are fooled that they can’t do anything about what is occurring in their neighborhoods. They tend to keep inside and not get involved in neighborhood programs.

Well, for those who want to keep the blinders on, the bad news is that crime and violence are everybody’s problems, rich and poor.

Stop ignoring signs that things are going wrong in the community. Start programs that are constructive and work with local law enforcement, school and community programs. Keep your eyes and ears open and report any crimes to the police.

(The city should) establish witness protection programs that protect those who witness crime. We have to make sure that if a crime is reported, the person who reported it will be protected. We all must work together to stop the violence and crime plaguing our communities. It’s your neighborhood. It’s your community. The problem is not going to go away by itself.

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FATHER TOM RUSH: Pastor of Pacoima’s largely Latino Mary Immaculate Church. Gangs and violence are daily issues for his parishioners.

Violence will always be a fact of life as long as we have disadvantaged people, the poor, the uneducated, unemployment and lack of communication between the communities of Southern California.

Since it appears the problems that mold violence will not be solved in the near future, given the continued elimination of jobs, school budget slashes and cutbacks in social services, the only thing we as residents of this large community have is each other.

We must bring back some sense of neighborhood. And from there, we must knock down these walls we have put up and realize that we are all in this together.

From West Los Angeles to South Central. From the Valley to Orange County. We must get involved and quit fighting among ourselves. More police and guns are not the solution.

In our case, the Valley Organized in Community Efforts was formed to help link the various groups and organizations in the community to do what we can to solve our violence and other social ills.

One person can’t do it. Churches, businesses, organizations and communities must fight this together. We cannot continue on this track.