How many of last years suspected gang killings were retaliatory?
RW: I don’t know that we have an exact number … In L.A., if one gang fires shots at another you can expect retaliation could be in minutes if not hours. In Seattle, our experience is that if there is going to be retaliation it could come in hours, weeks or months. That makes it difficult for us to figure out who is involved and where we should concentrate. Q: What are the hot rivalries? RW: It’s hard for us to keep track of what those rivalries are. And they bounce around and change from day to day. I think what we’re looking at is who are the people involved that may be having problems. That’s what we’re looking at because it’s not so much what the gangs are, as who are the individuals creating problems. Q: How has the no-snitch policy hindered your investigations? RW: The no-snitch campaign is a very real thing. It’s an experience we’re not just dealing with in Seattle. It’s national. It came into play about 2004 with a well-known rap artist who publicly stated ‘don’t snitch’ and w
