Virginia Politics: Kaine sees challenges, hope in Honduras' efforts to stem violence

It's not quite the same thing, being a city councilman in Richmond when it  was the second deadliest city in nation, and trying to get a handle on the violence in Honduras, where murder rates are among the highest in the world.

But, pausing for a moment to think about his return to the Honduran community where he worked with Jesuit missionaries at a technical school, Sen. Tim Kaine found some hopeful parallels from his days in Richmond city government, back in the 1990s.

They come down to building trust between law enforcement -- police, prosecutors and courts -- and a public terrorized by deadly, drug-traffic-fueled gunplay, Kaine said.

"It's important for people to see the police are people from the community, too," Kaine said.

That's why he was encouraged to hear about a festival a new days before his visit to Honduras last week. It was held at a school located right on the border between two gangs' territory.

"The police were out in force. But not to intimidate ... they were playing soccer," Kaine said. When cops get to know a community, and a community gets to know its police, the tips that solve crimes start flowing and the resignation that a community has to live with violent criminals starts to vanish.

There are still lots of problems. Violent drug gangs in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are so terrifying that children and teens will try the long and usually futile trip to the United States, traveling on their own. Kaine is still keeping his fingers crossed that last year's campaign to discourage kids from that often-dangerous flight is working -- the next few months will likely tell, since the spring is when the bulk of the kids will try.

The long term answer, he said, is for the United States to help out with money and advice to help improve Central American nations' public safety efforts and economic opportunity for their people.

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