Gang academy nears

Taking the first step to professionalize gang intervention workers, a city panel recommended Monday paying a group $200,000 to create a training academy.Daily News.

The Los Angeles Violence Intervention and Training Academy will develop a 150-hour program for intervention workers - many of whom have been working on their own to try and curb gang activity. Leaders say the program will be operating by March.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told the City Council's Public Safety Committee the new academy is critical to the city's crime-fighting efforts.