Dramatic drop in LA homicides

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A radical new strategy for dealing with gangs may be responsible for a dramatic decline in homicides in Los Angeles.

With 351 killings in 2007, L.A. Police Chief William Bratton said he believes the city will end up with the lowest number of homicides in 37 years, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Figures indicate there were 167 gang-related homicides during the traditionally violent summer months compared to 214 for the same period last year.

The new gang strategy, developed after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Bratton vowed a crackdown, involves enlisting the help of gang intervention workers, many of whom are gang members. When a homicide occurs, police contact the gang interventionists in an effort to avert retaliation, the Times said.

Last June Devon Harris, 16, was killed after he and his friends got into a quarrel with some other teens in Watts. Within a week after interventionists hit the streets, there was an arrest in the case and no retaliatory shootings occurred, the paper said.