Cracking down on gangs

Cracking down on gangs

Cleveland Plain Dealer: School’s winding down, the sun’s heating up and “Gangsta’s Paradise” is blasting in the background.

Summer brings out the gangs and the guns.

The good news is the good guys already are on the offensive. A new, multijurisdictional law enforcement task force was announced last week. It will target violent criminals and gangs.

Even better, the felons who fall prey to the task force can be prosecuted in federal court for violations of the Hobbes Act, a broad law prohibiting crimes that affect interstate commerce — armed robbery, for instance.

The Hobbes Act has been used effectively by federal prosecutors in Philadelphia for seven years.