County Anti-Gang Unit Urged to Stem Rising Violence

Citing a dramatic rise in Orange County gang violence, Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks and Supervisor Roger R. Stanton have asked the Board of Supervisors to approve a $450,000 anti-gang unit for the district attorney’s office.

A memo to the board signed by both Hicks and Stanton said that there are at least 83 gangs in the county today, contrasted with 54 three years ago and that many are “well organized” and “dangerously armed.”

The Hicks-Stanton proposal, which is to be considered by the Board of Supervisors at its meeting Tuesday, would establish a unit of six deputy district attorneys, five investigators and a three-person clerical staff. Nine of those positions would be filled by new employees. The proposal also calls for a county gang task force of representatives from schools, community organizations and law enforcement.

The memo asks for a computerized system for police forces throughout the county to share information on gang suspects, Stanton said.

School officials and more than 20 county police chiefs have submitted letters of support for the plan.

“It couldn’t come at a better time,” Stanton said. “Most every incident you hear about is tragic in terms of people getting shot and innocent persons getting hurt, not only in our county but in Los Angeles County too.”

According to the memo, Santa Ana police reported 10 gang-related homicides in 1987 alone, and the number of Juvenile Court prosecutions involving gangs jumped from 96 in fiscal 1984-85 to 209 in 1986-87.

“About half of all victims of gang crimes are innocent citizens living in or passing through gang areas,” the memo said. The crimes include drug-dealing, murder, rape, robbery, extortion and kidnaping.

Among the 83 identified county gangs are Latino, Vietnamese, “skinhead” and punk-style groups. The largest concentrations of gang activity are in Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Westminster, according to data submitted to the supervisors.

Under the Hicks-Stanton proposal, a gang unit prosecutor and an investigator would be assigned to each gang-related criminal case permanently, an approach referred to as “vertical” prosecution. Now, separate prosecutors often handle a case at different stages in court, said Deputy Dist. Atty. John D. Conley, supervising prosecutor in the district attorney’s Juvenile Court office. Conley helped draft the Hicks-Stanton plan.

“This new plan gives us better continuity,” Conley said. “What we had happening was that if the guy filing the case had learned something important, it often didn’t get passed on to the next deputy who may be assigned the arraignment.”

The district attorney’s office already prosecutes gang homicides, career criminals and major fraud cases vertically, Conley said.

While he acknowledged that the proposal submitted to the board does not address the root causes of gang activity, Conley defended it as an important step forward.

“I don’t think our approach is naive,” Conley said. “It’s not the whole answer, just part of the answer. We realize it has to be a coordinated approach. We’re saying this is not a panacea.”

Stanton, who represents parts of Westminster, Garden Grove and Fountain Valley, as well as all of Santa Ana , said: “We don’t want to find ourselves in the case of Los Angeles, which is fighting to keep gang activity from getting out of control.”

Gus Frias, a coordinator of an anti-gang program operated through the county Department of Education known as Operation Safe Schools, said: “Gang activity knows no boundaries. It’s countywide.”

He said he believes that the proposal is not the absolute solution to gang crime but is a step in the right direction: “Ultimately, the problem has to be attacked from all levels of community concern. That includes police, the district attorney’s office, probation and church and the community.”

While the amount of money sought for the gang unit may seem large, many law enforcement officials believe it is justified.

Seal Beach Police Chief W.D. Stearns, in a letter of support for the proposal, said street gangs are responsible for huge financial losses through car thefts and auto burglaries.

“I realize that finances must be taken into consideration, but a price tag cannot be placed upon the lives lost, the injuries sustained and the property lost due to gang activity,” Stearns said.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office established a gang unit in 1979, Conley said, that now includes more than 20 prosecutors. Similar units have been established since then in San Bernardino and San Diego counties.