30 days with 3 very disturbing incidents

The news today, that a big group came armed with bats and smashed car windows Sunday night in a Newark cul-de-sac: ‘Vandals Smash Window of 13 cars’, comes on the heels of: ‘Man Beaten, Stabbed by a Dozen Assailants in Mistaken Identity Case’ (July 2nd) and ‘Newark Man Dies After Early Morning Drive-By Shooting’ (June 29th). This all seems to be consistent with the modus operandi of gangs: brainless, senseless violence; but as far as I know, this is not confirmed yet.

In January 2013 Newark Junior High got a Police Officer, not because of ‘increased violence at the Junior High’ as originally stated in the official protocol, but because of increased gang violence generally in Newark , and specifically,  Nortenos were targeting a couple of students as they were leaving the Junior High at the end of the school day. The stalking was part of resentments still brewing in the aftermath to the murder of a 17-year-old (Afoa), stabbed to death near the High School in December of 2010, and another Newark teen (Osana Futi), who was stabbed to death in Fremont in 2012.

In May 2012 (a month after the Futi murder and with three fresh gang related incidents), the Newark Patch had an article about ‘Gang-related Crimes Trend Downward in Past Five Years’ interviewing Police Commander Michael Carroll and Mayor Al Nagy. According to the article, there had been 618 gang-related crimes since 2002, 187 of which were violent, but crime was down 67% when you compared 2006 to 2011. To fight the recruitment of new gang members police and school administrators were collaborating and had monthly talks, the Neighborhood Watch program was revived, and a volunteer policing program had been started.

The three incidents now occurring over the last 30 days are very disturbing to any resident, and of course even worse if you are related to or friend of the killed 21-year-old; if you are the victim attacked by a dozen people at night; or if you have ‘vandals’ invade your street. My question is, are these incidents representative of a new 'trend' and where are we compared to a year ago? I am forwarding this post to Mayor Nagy and Commander Carroll, hoping that they will care to comment. I think reports like today’s leave you very uneasy until you can hear that perpetrators have been apprehended,  that there is some sort of ‘explanation’, some action taken and consequences planned.