EDITORIAL:Encouraging news in the fight against gangs

Gangs are a scourge we can all do without. Everyone, save the gang members, can agree on that.

Still, they have taken root in Costa Mesa, and with every bad seed, it’s best to pluck out this menace in the early stages.

Thus, we applaud the Costa Mesa City Council and Police Department and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District for coming together last week and forming a plan to rid the city of the growing gang problem.

And the gangs are growing, according to a Police Department report.

In the past 10 years, gangs or those active in gangs have tripled. Gang-related crime skyrocketed an astounding 500% year over year from six incidents in 2005 to 29 in 2006, according to the report.

The time for action in stemming this rise is now.

With additional funds, police can add more resources, including new school resource officers, a new police car and a surveillance camera system. And the school district will be chipping in money for half the cost of the resource officers and an anti-gang program.

New Police Chief Christopher Shawkey should be commended for his vision here. He is correct in stating that although enforcement is a key element of ridding the city of gangs, prevention will be a major factor as well.

And Mayor Allan Mansoor and the council majority are also correct in not writing blank checks without getting tangible results.

With Shawkey looking to spend some $500,000, Mansoor, rightly, wants the city to see quantifiable results on gang enforcement and intervention.

We would be interested in seeing the numbers of that as well.

Costa Mesa, to be sure, is not teeming with gang members. According to the report, there are about 300 gang members, half of whom are considered active. In relation to other cities its size (population of about 110,000), and even smaller, Costa Mesa continues to be one of the safest cities in which to live and work and raise a family.

But there is always the danger of being lulled into apathy and inaction, so kudos to city, school district and police leaders for not letting that happen.