You might forgive the average consumer of government propaganda for assuming the City of Peoria’s “Don’t Shoot” campaign is, well, so much hooey.

You’ve seen the ads. They are plastered in coffee house bulletin boards, the sides of buses that weave their way through our neighborhoods and on the sides of billboards.

They feature the pictures of sad looking individuals looking right at the camera. the caption: “You’re killing me.”

The message seems to be a plea to the gangsters and thugs to stop killing innocent civilians. This is funny on at least one level. Most victims of gang violence are themselves gang members, or as authorities put it, “gang affiliated.”

I got a kick out of the poster they put up at Starbucks in Campustown. Did they think ‘bangers were stopping by for coffee and cappuccinos before drive bys?

Anyway, I attended a press conference at Peoria City Hall last month. I heard Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis, Chief of Police Steve Settingsgard, Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy and others describe — again — that the City was serious about making sure the law was coming down sufficiently hard on members of a certain street gang they deemed responsible for a spate of shootings that had hit Peoria the previous weeks.

Settingsgard was especially all up in their grill. He said the gang ‘self selected” themselves as the target of enforcement efforts. Patrols had been increased, especially in neighborhoods affected by the gangs. They were doubling up in squad cars. And they were going to enforce the heck out of ordinary traffic laws.

Really. These people could not have uses language that was any harsher. They really are mad at these gangbangers and they are really, really, really going to tell officers in the field to get tough. At least until overtime costs get too prohibitive.

But don’t worry civil libertarians. They aren’t going to do this to grandmas with cars full of groceries – just known gangbangers. They think.

This is how they got the “Bomb Squad,” the last gang to feel the wrath of stepped up enforcement. These cases are winding their way through the court system now.

I asked Mayor Adris if he had a message for those who might think the “Don’t Shoot” plan was pretty much just asking the criminals to stop shooting at citizens. He seemed a little peeved at the question.

The posters were part of the “carrot” in the program’s carrot and stick approach. If you are a gang member the city will help you get out. He suggested that anyone concerned abut how tough the program really is to just look at the Website at http://dontshootpeoria.com/.

Sheriff McCoy assured everyone that even though the Peoria County Jail is filled to capacity, his facility would have no problem packing more inmates inside.

I once heard Jim Ardis say that McCoy would handcuff inmates to the fence surrounding the jail if need be. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.