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Los Angeles gang crime down

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Los Angeles gang membership is down and so are gang-related crimes, but this may just be temporary as gangs adapt to new police strategy, officials say.

Some 39,000 gang members are now in the city, down from 57,000 five years ago, officials estimate.

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Homicides, assaults and robberies dropped to 6,610 citywide in 2005 from 8,905 in 2001.

But gangs are hard to eliminate because their "roots run very deep," Deputy Chief Charlie Beck tells the Los Angeles Times following the indictment of 18 gang leaders for allegedly running a sophisticated drug operation.

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo says "gangs are adapting" to a new police attention.

But imprisoning them is not the answer, says Cheryl Maxson, a University of California, Irvine, gang expert.

"You put a gang member in prison and they come out a better trained gang member," she says.

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