1st-Week Success of Gang Hot Line Amazes Operators : Crime: Sheriff’s officials say information from the anonymous tip service has helped start several investigations in the Antelope Valley.

The voice on the other end of the line was the mother of a gang member.

She was one of more than 50 people who have called a new Antelope Valley gang hot line established a week ago. But she didn’t want information about how to spot gang members--she knew the warning signs all too well. And she didn’t want sympathy or advice.

She wanted her son locked up.

“She said she was in fear of her own life,” said Debbie Pricer, whose husband, Billy Pricer, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy turned minister, founded the hot line as part of a nonprofit organization called Operation Gangwatch.

“She said she would rather he was in jail. She just can’t deal with it anymore. She said he’s going to end up dead anyway.”

Volunteers who man the hot line passed the information on to the Sheriff Department’s local gang unit, along with anonymous reports from other mothers and relatives of gang members.

Callers have provided names, photos and descriptions and have given information about weapons, places where the gang members hang out and crimes such as robberies and drug dealing, the Pricers said. Students have reported being threatened or intimidated by gangs at school, saying they called the hot line instead of telling school officials because they were afraid of retaliation.

The number of calls provides a measure of the seriousness of the gang problem in the high desert, the Pricers said.

“We thought we would get five or six calls the first week,” Debbie Pricer said. “We were pretty amazed at the response.”

There is no official connection between the organization and the Antelope Valley sheriff’s station, but sheriff’s officials have endorsed the concept. And Sgt. Gary Collins, head of the gang unit, said information about gang activity provided through the hot line has proved valuable and led to several ongoing investigations.

“It is a definite resource,” said Collins, who said he was not surprised at the number of calls. “This area is going through a gang awareness era.”

One event that increased awareness dramatically was the valley’s first fatal gang shooting last month, when a stray bullet fired during a gang-related altercation outside a party in Lancaster killed an Antelope Valley High School athlete.

Billy Pricer said residents are reacting as a mix of local gangs and gangs from other areas step up recruitment activity among young people in the Antelope Valley, which he said the gangs consider a “hot property” for drug dealing and other criminal activity.

Callers to the hot line, 266-HELP, have been evenly divided between people with anonymous tips for law enforcement and parents concerned their children may be involved with gangs or drugs, organizers said. They have called from Lancaster, Palmdale and the Littlerock area, Pricer said.

About 10 volunteers, who are carefully screened for their counseling ability and knowledge of youth problems, answer phones in a location that is kept secret for security reasons, Debbie Pricer said. The callers’ anonymity is protected.

Pricer said he takes tips about criminal activity to the gang unit. He said that to the extent possible, he attempts to verify the basic information first.

Gangwatch workers ask parents worried about their children’s behavior about warning signs such as new friends, styles of dress, nicknames and language, then refer them to counseling programs staffed by volunteers if necessary.

Not all of the valley’s residents appear to have become familiar with gang culture. Debbie Pricer said one caller who was asked if her son was wearing “colors,” the name for gang attire that provided the title for a movie about Los Angeles gangs, had never heard the term before and did not know what it meant.

Collins said his unit welcomes the help and suggested that people who want general information call the hot line. But he urged people who want to report a crime to call the sheriff’s station directly.

“If there’s criminal activity, we’d like to know about it,” he said. “That doesn’t preclude someone who wants to maintain confidentiality calling the hot line.”

Operation Gangwatch plans to hold an organizational meeting for current and prospective volunteers at Jane Reynolds Park in Lancaster today, Pricer said.