LA Police Chief Bill Bratton unveiled a new offensive against gangs in the murder-torn city.

The latest strategy will involve pooling hundreds of officers from across the department, including detectives from homicide and narcotics units, to form gang-busting teams. They will receive help from probation and officers, prosecutors and school district officials. The teams will also work with agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. In addition, the LAPD is trying to engage members of churches and neighborhood groups to join the effort -- and to dispel the years of mistrust and rancor felt by many in the black and Hispanic neighborhoods whose residents describe the LAPD as an invading army.

This is a major restructuring of the Los Angeles Police Department. It's certainly due, as far as we're concerned. At a news conference, Chief Bratton said,

The department should shoulder blame for the city's soaring murder rate because of poor management and deployment of police officers, low morale, rogue officers, and timidity and disengagement that made anti-gang efforts ineffective.

"We got out of the business of going after gangs," Bratton said at a news conference in South Los Angeles, the neighborhood that has experienced the most violence. For example, he said, the former anti-gang squads did not work on the weekend and did not pursue drug cases.

"This department has been on the bench," Bratton said. "We've been totally out of the game when it comes to dealing with crime."

How bad is it in LA? Here are some numbers. 658 homicides, mostly centered in south and east Los Angeles, home to many of the city's poorer black and hispanic residents. 432 gangs with an estimated 52,000 gang members.

In some families, gang membership is generational, from grandfather to father to son. Most of the active members are in their teens and early twenties, after which time they are either incarcerated, retired or dead. Many gang members pursue lives of "opportunistic" crime, but they are not highly organized, like drug cartels or the Mafia. Many of the killings are reportedly over issues such as "respect" and the control of a block or corner.

In a bid for more funds, Bratton and Mayor James Hahn will go to Washington next week to meet with FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge.

We commend Bratton's efforts to involve the community in his policing. We know he is cognizant of the tension between enforcing the law and respecting constitutional and civil rights. He's an innovative law enforcement agent. But the residents of Los Angeles have good reasons to fear the LAPD--years worth of them. We hope Bratton can earn their trust, as we see that as a critical pre-requisite to any success in restoring sanity and some semblance of order to the streets of LA.