The shocking death of Broncos player Darrent Williams has opened a window onto a parallel universe that only rarely intersects with the lives of most of us in the Denver area.
But signs of gang activity are there to see. Graffiti appears overnight. There are unexplained shootings in poor neighborhoods. Trial witnesses go quiet, disappear or are killed.
Denver doesn’t have the problems of New York or Los Angeles (where police have identified 720 different street gangs with 39,315 members). But recently released figures put Colorado gang membership at 12,741, with the majority living in Denver.
The audacity of gang activities suggests that city police should focus fresh resources, but the facts are the opposite.
The Post reported last week that the number of suspected gang crimes in Denver is up 35 percent since 1999 but the size of the police anti-gang unit has remained roughly the same, fluctuating between 37 and 45 offiers.
The shooter in the New Year’s Day killing of Williams was in a car belonging to a member of the so-called Tre Tre Crips gang. It is a recent violent incident in which gang activity is suspected or known, but it’s not an isolated event.
Last June, a 16-year-old honor roll student was at her boyfriend’s house in Denver when she was killed in a drive-by shooting. In June 2005, a witness set to testify against a gang member was shot to death in Aurora on the eve of the murder trial. A month later, two Denver girls, ages 7 and 12, were shot by a gangster as they lay sleeping in their bedroom. The shooter indiscriminately sprayed houses along a city block.
Gangs known to be active in the area include the Bloods, the notoriously violent Mara Salvatrucha organization, known as “MS-13,” and the Rollin’ 30s Crips, a Los Angeles import from the 1980s. Their misdeeds are varied and include drug and other criminal operations and territorial fights. They often battle one another.
There is significant work to be done to rein in gang members who feel immune from police and prosecutors. We must support more outreach like that being done by the Rev. Leon Kelly, who has dedicated his energy and expertise to helping kids who are vulnerable to gangs.
City law enforcement needs to put adequate resources on the gang issue. The death of Darrent Williams was a needless tragedy, and a warning call. What would be worse is for the loss to have had no effect on this pressing problem.
