San Jose officials are hoping a rather unique approach to stemming gang violence will help reduce gang-related troubles in the city.
With signs that a long-running fued between rival street gangs may be heating up, the city has been calling in pastors and former gang members to try to ease tensions between rival gangs.
Officials say the use of the so-called intervention specialists, along with a gang prevention task force, contributed to reducing retaliatory attacks between rival gangs in 2009.
But officials say after the decline, the city is experiencing a spike in gang attacks.
Police say there were four gang-related homicides in January and February, months that historically see fewer acts of gang violence.
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