Salinas, California would rather be known as the birthplace of John Steinbeck. But as of late, the news coming out of the small, agricultural city of 150,000 is mostly accounts of murders, big drug busts, and gang-related violence. The city has tried a number of strategies for uprooting gangs in the town over the past decades–they’ve tried gang injunctions, as well as bringing in federal and state officers. Yet the violence persists.
So Salinas officials are trying something new. This latest strategy has been honed in other desert towns tens of thousands of miles away – in the outskirts of Iraq and Afghanistan. This story appeared on last night’s Crosscurrents. Audio above and transcript after the jump.
