Slap is right, the tactics are not Green Beret tactics, they're tactics that actually go back many years and are used by both insurgents and counterinsurgents, but these tactics to various levels have been adapted by SF soldiers. The tactics themselves are not magical, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. The key is to gain understanding/insights about the operational environment and then adapt your approach as needed. I suspect your perps will adapt to your strategy, so you need to stay cognizant of how they're adapting and adjust accordingly.

I'm glad to see the LEA and the military learning from one another. There is much to learn from each other if the strategies and tactics are adapted to fit the world each is operating in. I still have a police tactics book written on street survival by a seasoned Los Angles Police Officer in the 70s that I believe helped me get through some situations relatively unscaved. A lot of good lessons on mind set, situational awareness, weapons retention, etc. I was somewhat surprised when I couldn't find any good policing strategy books ( but I did find a few articles), so if the soldiers and marines coming back from the current fight can help the police organizations in the U.S. to start experimenting with strategies to address serious issues like the gang problem then that is goodness in my opinion.

After reading the article again, I caught the police Lt Col's comment about not being able to arrest our way out the gang problem, and then on the next page the article commented that more arrests were made because the program was successful. I got it, it isn't black and white, and while we say we can't kill our way out of an insurgency, that doesn't mean killing isn't required. Better relations with the community results in better intelligence from the community which results in more arrests, which in turns results in the criminals/gang members viewing that environment as hostile. In that case they adjust their tactics (perhaps becoming more threatening) or leave the area. If they apply harsher tactics to coerce support from the local population, and the population gives into the coercion then the strategy failed and an adjustment will have to be made.

Still begs the question about how to get to the left of the problem, or to prevent it from starting or resurging, and I think Slap hit that one dead on. It appears to be the result of the breakdown of the basic 2 parent Family unit in America. Agree that is probably over simplifying it, but a lot of kids seem to be looking for a place to belong and gangs fill that void.