The coordinated anti-gang sweep in the Tri-Cities last week is both alarming and reassuring.
Alarming because it indicates a continuing presence of often drug-fueled gang activity.
Reassuring because it is not any bigger than it is.
Gang activity in our part of the world is not limited to graffiti.
Sale or use of Illegal drugs is often the root cause of these thuggish organizations bent on profit and willing to use violence to succeed.
But to alarming and reassuring we need add another word: tragic.
Photos of grieving loved ones appear on front pages of newspapers throughout the country, including here in the Tri-Cities.
Court cases show young lives forever ruined or stunted by the even more tragic loss of some victim's life. It is tragic whether the deceased is another gang member or not.
"Folks in the Tri-Cities are very fortunate to live in an area where we all work together," Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg said after the arrest of 27 suspected gang members. "This is a great place to live. It's a safe community."
Comparatively speaking, he is of course correct.
Little Royal City, with a population of around 2,000, recently made the news with a shooting of a 10-year-old by suspected gang members.
Royal City police officers (there are three of them) say there are 50 known gang members in town.
In Yakima, city government says it is in crisis because of rampant gang activity.
After the execution-style murder of a teenager last Sunday in front of his home, Yakima officials appealed to state and federal authorities for help.
According to the Yakima Herald-Republic, Deputy Mayor Kathy Coffee said she's trying to enlist Gov. Chris Gregoire and Sen. Patty Murray to get a Safe Streets task force led by the FBI established in Yakima.
"The message is: There is a problem on the streets of Yakima, and we need your help now," Coffey said during a council meeting.
The newspaper reported that Mayor Micah Cawley said he had spoken with Attorney General Rob McKenna, and Councilwoman Maureen Adkison said she pulled Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., aside to talk about the gang problem while he was in Yakima.
Of course, no comparison is comfortable in the face of the death of youngsters and trafficking in illegal drugs.
But for scale, consider this:
w The Tri-Cities sweep brought in 27 accused gang members.
w In Mexico, The Associated Press reports that drug gang violence has soared since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on traffickers in late 2006. More than 22,700 people have been killed. Their leaders are some of the richest men in the world.
w A study of the exorbitant wealth of Mexico's drug lords shows more than half the money smuggled out of the U.S. each year is cash that never passes through a bank, making it nearly invisible to law enforcement.
Chief Hohenberg and the other officers and chiefs who joined in the sweep are right, of course, to feel they are doing a good job holding down gang violence here.
"I think the message is clear: Tri-Cities is not a great place to be if you're a criminal gang member," Hohenberg said. "People can either choose to get out of criminal gangs or they can choose to get out of the Tri-Cities or they're going to go to jail."
We're grateful for the job our police agencies are doing, and we want them to keep it up.
In fact, anywhere they can, we'd be glad to see them step it up.
