Your post, “It’d never fly in this pc-mad country. There would be lawsuits and press conferences by Jackson, Sharpton, etc. flying all over the place. “
If that would be the case, then I say bring it on. To do nothing as it seems the Denver PD is doing is just giving in to the thugs. Wimping out in the face of threats gets us nowhere, and never will. These (gang thugs) know only one thing and respect only one thing and that is FORCE. New York city had a huge gang violence problem until the PD there (backed by the mayor and DA) severely reduced the crime element using very much the same tactics....
New York city had a huge gang violence problem until the PD there (backed by the mayor and DA) severely reduced the crime element using very much the same tactics....
NY City's gang problem got so bad that it temporarily suspended the political correctness among the citizens and the city government. That's why it got done. Everyone concerned was in agreement.
Los Angeles also broke the back of urban gangs back in the 50's and 60's. The city government was ruthless about it, and directed the LAPD to stomp it out with the correct amount of force.
The problem didn't rear its head again until the early 70's, when the Crips and the Bloods were born in Compton (a suburb of LA). By the time the city got around to trying to suppress it, gang membership had grown to gargantuan proportions, and couldn't have been put down without a war.
Times had changed, as well. Political correctness had already infected the city government, and the will to stamp out the gang scourge just wasn't there. Besides, it was confined to the ghettos and barrios, so it was allowed to fester and grow even larger.
In time, these gangs grew to infect communities across the country, and thousands of other urban gangs sprang up wherever the contagion of aberration reached. It's now an problem of epidemic proportions that spans the breadth of the nation.
What to do? Do what works, of course, but that will take a tremendous amount of political will.