So-called “gang violence” would not exist if they (gangs) did not satisfy the desperate needs of young people for family, education, mentoring, housing, employment, health, spiritual, and social support. In the last few years, the Pomona Habla coalition has consistently raised to the city council that there could be no “trust” as long as the Pomona Police continue to use checkpoints and saturation enforcement tactics that primarily target the majority-minority population in the city. There have continued to be “deaf ears” to the studies, such as that of the Latino Decisions/Center for American Progress Action Fund/America’s Voice poll, which found that “79 percent of Latinos nationwide believed that Latinos who are legal immigrants or U. S. citizens will get stopped or questioned by police.” It is no coincidence then why many of the cases in Pomona are not solved when the tactics used have not been in the direction of cooperation but more focused on strategies that have affected both the immigrant and non-immigrant communities. The use of enforcement tactics do not get at the long-term needs of a community for employment, health, housing, education, and economic development opportunities.

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