LAPD Gang Units

LOS ANGELES - AUGUST 4: Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department gang unit aim their pistols at a stolen car stopped on a freeway bridge filled with 6 possibly armed hispanic youths after a three mile chase on August 4, 2006 in the Rampart district of Los Angeles, California. A police helicopter hovered above with a spotlight. One of the youths threw a 9mm pistol from the car during the chase. The six youths are part of a tagging gang, groups that paint gang graffiti on walls and buildings and are eventually recruited into organized street gangs. In the Rampart area, over 25 hispanic street gangs compete for the drug trade with the majority controlled by the Mexican mafia. Los Angeles violent crime rates, traditionally one of the highest in California, have recently fallen as figures show a crime shift to outlying counties where real estate prices are more affordable. (Photo by Robert Nickelserg/Getty Images)