On Tuesday (Dec. 18), Menlo Park police will hold a community meeting on gang prevention in the cafeteria of Belle Haven School at 415 Ivy Drive at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting is part of ongoing police efforts to crack down on the gang violence plaguing Menlo Park and East Palo Alto this year, with at least 17 shootings in the past six months.

Police believe a feud between the Taliban and DaVill gangs sparked the increase in violence. The Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and Palo Alto police departments are working cooperatively on multiple fronts, carrying out drug enforcement operations, launching a homicide response team, and analyzing social networks and shared data to map gang activity along with victim profiles.

— Sandy Brundage

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