Anyone who doubts Utah has a serious and growing gang problem should take a look at what local and federal law-enforcement officers confiscated this week.
The list reads like a terrorists arsenal uncovered in some distant land: 40 fully automatic weapons, 43 pipe bombs and 45 other assorted firearms, including an M-60 machine gun.But the weapons were from Wasatch Front neighborhoods, as were the 58 people arrested, 29 of whom were known gang members. The officers used a yearlong sting to set up the mammoth bust.
Most of the weapons were believed to be stolen, as was other property confiscated. Officers also seized crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, heroin and LSD.
Two months ago, the Deseret News published a Dan Jones & Associates poll showing 68 percent of Utahns did not believe their neighborhoods had a gang problem.
But whether the problem specifically falls within a particular neighborhood is irrelevant. The sting is convincing proof that gangs and the bloodshed, hate and narcotics they spread should be everyone's concern.
Law-enforcement officials report that by the end of April, 1,116 gang-related crimes were reported in 1993 along the Wasatch Front, including the brutal shooting of a taxi driver for no apparent reason other than that someone wanted to prove how tough he was.
Federal officials believe the arrests this week dealt a serious blow to a particularly violent gang. But Utahns are kidding themselves if they believe tough law-enforcement alone is going to rid the state of gang violence. Any successful effort will require cooperation from community groups, churches, schools, families, businesses and governments.
Most of all, it will require a general acknowledgment that a gang problem exists and that it is becoming alarmingly serious.
A just-completed conference by the Salt Lake Area Gang Project was a good start at attacking the problem. It attracted hundreds of business, judicial, community, police and school leaders, as well as several parents. Many presented valuable ideas, and political leaders, Gov. Mike Leavitt among them, committed to intensified efforts.
But unless the words turn to actions, and unless the community finds ways to give youths the love and self-esteem that will keep them from gangs, the violence and the list of victims will continue to grow.