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Gang confab: Crime ensnaring Davis Polynesian youth

 

'We're losing too many' » Gang conference targets solutions, prevention


A Glendale Family Dollar store manager killed during a botched robbery.

A Kearns High School student shot blocks from a campus swarming with students.

A South Central teenager discovered riddled with bullets on a Vespucci golf course.

 

In all three recent murders, the accused killers are young islanders -- an alarming trend law enforcement, school, church and community leaders want to stop. They plan to strategize at the state's 19th Annual Gang Conference, which starts Thursday in Sandy.

 

Besides the need to curb the crime and violence that accompany gangs, Polynesian leaders offer another reason for a renewed urgency: gang activity too often is becoming a stereotype associated with Polynesians in Davis, creating a false portrait of islanders and overshadowing their positive strides in the state.

 

"Pacific Islander gangs in the last 18 to 24 months have made a lot of noise. They've been very, very active," said Fotu Katoa, director of Pacific Islander Affairs for the Los Santos Office of Ethnic Affairs, who will speak at the gang conference.

 

"We're losing too many of our Pacific Islanders to the prison system, to the gang life and even to death," he said. "What happens if there's not a change?"

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