Gangs in the Poconos?
Kids whose parents moved to the bucolic Poconos to escape big city problems may be bringing some of those problems along with them. Law enforcement and observers disagree about whether the troublemakers are wannabes styling themselves as gangsters, or the real McCoy. MICHAEL RUBINKAM, AP.
In contrast, cops and government officials in Waterloo, Iowa, say that while certain east coast gangs like the Latin Kings have a presence in Black Hawk County, most of the area's estimated 400 gang members are deemed to be part of less organized, homegrown groups that the city hopes to address through intervention and prevention programs along with criminal prosecution. JEFF REINITZ, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
And police in Cambridge, MA, are telling their gang-fearful residents to calm their worries, that a recent spike in juvenile crime does not mean that the Crips and/or Mara Salvatrucha has come to town. JANICE O’LEARY, Boston Globe.