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Take Two with A Martinez
Take Two

El Salvador expands community policing to combat crime

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Members of Mara Salvatrucha (MS13), held on Monday, March 4, 2013, in the Criminal Center of Ciudad Barrios, San Miguel, 160 km east of San Salvador, after one year of cessation of the violence between the rivalry of two large gangs in El Salvador, MS13 and 18 st. El Salvador, a small country of six million people, is brimming with an estimated 50,000 street gang members, plus another 10,000 who are behind bars. Since the first truce took effect about a year ago, the average daily death toll from gang-related violence has gone down from 14 to five.
AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Members of Mara Salvatrucha (MS13), held on Monday, March 4, 2013, in the Criminal Center of Ciudad Barrios, San Miguel, 160 km east of San Salvador, after one year of cessation of the violence between the rivalry of two large gangs in El Salvador, MS13 and 18 st. El Salvador, a small country of six million people, is brimming with an estimated 50,000 street gang members, plus another 10,000 who are behind bars.

El Salvador's new president has announced a strategy to expand community police units in the face of crime and powerful gangs.

El Salvador has a population of just over 6 million people.

But since last October, almost 16, 000 Salvadorean children have arrived at the U.S. border.

The country is struggling to rein in crime and gain control over powerful gangs.

El Salvador's new president has announced a strategy to expand community police units.

Reporter Jude Joffe-Block of Fronteras Desk went out on patrol with some officers and reports back. 

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