Los Angeles police eye smaller gangs

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles have developed a strategy against gang violence that redirects focus to smaller neighborhood gangs.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief William Bratton said the department will focus its efforts on a "Top 10" list of gangs developed using a complex formula, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

He said the department will target leaders and headquarters of gangs that cause a disproportionate amount of violent crimes in the city.

Bratton said the police will identify "the most prolific gangs in the city, the top 10, if you will.

"We will be using a matrix that encompasses violent crime committed by the gangs, interracial crime, assaults on police officers," Bratton said. "That's how we will winnow the hundreds of gangs in the city down to those that we will focus most of our attention on."

The move follows a 14-percent rise in gang-related violence during 2006, the Times said.