Los Angeles, long imagined as a site of dystopian futures, seems determined to embed crime fear into its present. As Mike Davis' books on the city have shown, LA since the 1980s has increasingly shaped itself around fear of crime with gated communities, its privatized high security downtown, and its "gang reduction zones". A recent story in the LA Times shows how the city creates ever new layers on the surface of its crime centered life. In the latest effort to reassure the public, “Los Angeles leaders unveiled several initiatives Wednesday to reduce crime at and around 20 public schools, including a computerized tracking system that authorities have already used to tailor violence-fighting strategies to the specific conditions in hot spots around the city."
“The anti-crime plan also calls for rookie police officers and their supervisors to mentor students at the schools -- in South Los Angeles, on the Eastside and in the San Fernando Valley -- starting next month. And it envisions greater community involvement, enlisting adults to walk with groups of children who must pass through some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods en route to classes.”
But organizing life around crime only increases the fear.
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Man, these gangs are getting worse and worse, I heard that their even moving in to mexico from LA. You'd think it'd be the other way around but not according to the criminal attorneys in Los Angeles. Well, hopefully things will get better before they get worse. We'll see.
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