'PRIMETIME' Jennings looks at LA's battle on crime, gangs

By LYNN ELBER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ABC News and Peter Jennings take to the violent streets of a Los Angeles neighborhood, home to more than 60 gangs, for an examination of one city's battle against crime.
"Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD," a special edition of "Primetime" airing at 10 tonight, spent a year on patrol with police gang units in southeast Los Angeles.
Their efforts are put in the context of the city's and the LAPD's problems in recent years.
When William J. Bratton, who gained attention for his work in Boston and New York, took over as Los Angeles police chief in 2002, the city was America's murder capital.
Scandals including the Rodney King beating, the O.J. Simpson arrest and trial and the Rampart station corruption scandal had damaged the department's image and engendered community distrust.
"Nobody should have to die from gang violence," police Officer Tim Pearce told ABC News. "I would like to turn this neighborhood back into a place where everybody can walk their dogs and play in the street and ride bikes, like where I grew up."
But the officer calls it "an unbelievable battle."