With the cold-blooded murder of John Daly last week, the pressure is on the gardai and politicians to introduce new and wide-sweeping measures to bring our own spiralling gangland problem under control. As it happens, LA provides a perfect example of what can be done.

The Taoiseach has suggested gangrelated crimes could be tried before the Special Criminal Court but LA has gone further by denying known gang leaders basic human rights.

Los Angeles is the 'gang capital' of America and the activities of over 250 gangs has resulted in more than 27,000 murders over the last 30 years.

In 1996, 614 people were murdered in gang attacks but that number had fallen to 272 by last year.

The fight against gangs was spearheaded by mayor Antonio Villarigosa, LAPD commander Patrick Gannon and city attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

The three men realised that to defeat gangs, the police, judiciary and local government had to join forces to hit criminals on three fronts.

One of the most effective measures was introducing a system of gang injunctions which is effectively a restraining order against gang members in particular neighbourhoods.

There are currently 29 injunctions in place against 38 different groups.

Gangs such as the Krazy Ass Mexicans, Bounty Hunters and Harbour City Boys prosper in defined areas and injunctions cover the areas that are the strongholds of gangs.

A court injunction declares a gang's behaviour a nuisance and forbids people from gathering in groups, wearing gang colours, drinking on the street, making gang gestures and acting as lookouts.

A breach of the injunction can result in a six-month prison sentence and the streets are policed by officers enforcing the court order.

Injunctions have resulted in gang members disappearing from the streets, which are then reclaimed by law-abiding local people. Group injunctions were so successful that individual ones were introduced, much to the fury of civil rights groups.

An individual injunction can prevent a known gang member from congregating in groups of more than two, possessing a mobile phone, riding a bike or driving a car. They are forced to obey strict curfews and are restricted from leaving a particular area. If two known gang members are seen together they are automatically arrested.

Breaching an individual injunction results in arrest on sight and a hefty jail term. Injunctions mean police know where particular criminals are and can concentrate on deploying manpower to those particular areas.

Injunctions and gang activity is policed by special gang units which comprise local police, FBI officials and personnel from the district attorney's office.

When gang members are arrested they are prosecuted for federal offences, meaning more jail time, and they are automatically investigated for potential drugs and racketeering breaches. When a gang member is convicted, federal asset forfeiture laws allow the state of California to seize all the individual's assets with the aim of imploding individual gang members and, eventually, the gang itself.

The 'three strikes' rule applies to gang members so they are automatically jailed for life if they are convicted of a crime on three separate occasions.

The FBI has started to get involved in policing gangs and has set up the National Gang Intelligence Centre where information about gang activity throughout the United States is shared and collated.

Across the city of LA, 'talking' surveillance cameras have been introduced as a deterrent to gang crime.

When a group of people loiter in the vicinity of the camera it automatically takes their picture and tells them they will be arrested if they don't disperse.

Even a seemingly simple deterrent measure like this has been successful, with a big drop in crime recorded in areas like Compton where the scheme was first piloted.

Strict policing and a zero-tolerance approach to gangs is not a solution in itself and the state of California realised that in order to defeat gangs, members had to be reached while they were young.

There are currently 61 gang intervention specialists employed in LA and the aim is to prevent youngsters from drifting into gangs. A team of dedicated gang counsellors is also available to discuss problems with young members.

This marks a new departure in dealing with the problem. Over 450,000 people under the age of 18 have been jailed over the last 10 years and laws allow children as young as 14 to be tried in adult court. It gradually became clear these young people were becoming more immersed in gang activity while behind bars so a new approach was needed because total zero-tolerance wasn't working.

Schools are now open later for extra tutoring and organised team sports have been extended to keep young people occupied and away from temptation.

It is doubtful whether the political will exists in this country to take on gangland criminals as has been done in Los Angeles but it is clear that unless forward-thinking initiatives are introduced our murder rate will continue to soar.