Santa Ana Approves Plan for Fighting Random Gun Firing

In an effort to halt the random firing of guns during holidays, the Santa Ana City Council on Monday approved an enforcement plan that includes seeking help from immigration authorities and a high-profile educational campaign.

“If we don’t do it now, it’s just going to get worse,” said City Councilman Miguel A. Pulido, who joined in the 6-0 council vote to approve the plan Monday night.

Santa Ana Deputy Police Chief Eugene B. Hansen said the four-part program will be ready by the time Cinco de Mayo rolls around and also will target other holidays that seem to trigger the gunfire frenzies, including the Fourth of July, Sept. 16 (Mexican Independence Day), Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Hansen said the department will increase the number of officers in specially targeted areas during peak holiday hours when the gunfire tends to occur. He added that a squad of 22 officers will receive three days of specialized training, including simulated confrontations with holiday revelers before the enforcement program begins.

In an unusual move, Hansen said, the Police Department will depart from its longstanding policy against cooperating with federal immigration agents and seek assistance from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as well as the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Hansen explained that the help of immigration officials would be sought because it is considered a felony for undocumented aliens to possess a gun, while it is only a misdemeanor for a citizen to fire a gun illegally.

Both INS and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Hansen said, were “willing to set examples and set the tone by assisting (Santa Ana police) in apprehensions.”

Other enforcement measures will include beefing up the number of police officers assigned to crack down on illegal discharge of firearms and deploying a mobile police station in targeted neighborhoods for bookings and detentions when jail space is not available, Hansen said.

Also, the Police Department will mount a bilingual educational campaign, including flyers, public service announcements and videotaped programs to be distributed to schools, churches and neighborhood meetings.

At the study session, Hansen showed the council and staff a copy of the bilingual flyer that will be distributed to homes five times a year beginning in late April through direct mailing or direct distribution. The flyer features a hand that has just fired a gunshot into the air and is set against the background of a STOP sign.

The cost for printing, preparation of the educational video and staff hours expended in increased enforcement is expected to total $134,000 and will come out of the current budget, Hansen said in a memorandum outlining the program.