Stop gang threat at the source

The consequences of gang violence are not confined to gang members. That tragic truth has become increasingly evident in South Carolina. Reversing this deadly trend will require a wide range of measures by a wide range of people. Ultimately, it will require teaching our state's young people to resist the lure of gang life -- a lure that frequently leads to misery, prison and even early death.

That was the clear message from the state's Gang Prevention Study Committee on Wednesday during its meeting in Charleston. The panel of law enforcement professionals, clergy members and other concerned citizens, chaired by S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, is looking for practical ways to counter a threat that's clearly grown at an alarming rate over the last decade.

Last month, a research project for the S.C. Department of Public Safety reported a roughly tenfold increase in gang violence in our state from 1998 through 2007.

The General Assembly, responding to that rising menace, wisely passed a law in 2007 facilitating the use of a statewide grand jury on violent-crime cases with suspected gang connections. The enhanced investigative abilities of that body are now being brought to bear on a series of shootings in Colleton County.

Three months ago, one of those shootings -- a "drive-by" -- claimed the lives of three people, including a 20-month-old girl, in Walterboro while wounding six others. Walterboro Police Chief Otis Rhodes stressed the hazards to innocent bystanders Wednesday, telling the committee: "It's real dangerous not only for those people out there, but for the people in the surrounding neighborhoods as well."

While police work is obviously a necessary weapon in turning back the advance of gangs in our state, the long-range solution lies not so much in law enforcement as in parental and societal guidance for young people tempted to join gangs.

As Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen pointed out at Wednesday's meeting, many children in our state are "looking for security, friendship and support, and if they're not getting it at home or in the community they are going to look for it in other places."

The chief has tried to provide some of "security, friendship and support" with his Camp Hope program for 7- to 12-year-olds at obvious risk of slipping into the gang lifestyle on Charleston's East Side. Other police departments and community leaders, here and elsewhere, are striving to do the same.

That's because, as the Gang Prevention Study Committee's title makes clear, the best way to stop gang violence is to stop kids from joining gangs.