Santa Ana Beefs Up Gang Detail to Stem Bloodshed in Streets

Police Chief Paul M. Walters launched an unprecedented attack on the city’s gangs Friday, sending 25 officers on a weekend sweep, doubling the size of the department’s gang detail and threatening to hold parents responsible if their children violate a previously unenforced 10 p.m. curfew.

“Gang violence is increasing in Orange County,” Walters said at a press conference. “We want to take the individuals involved in gangs off the streets.”

Walters’ offensive comes a week after one of the city’s bloodiest weekends, during which two teen-agers were killed by gang gunfire and another was seriously wounded along with an 8-year-old boy. So far this year, eight gang-related homicides and more than 50 gang-related shootings have occurred in Santa Ana. Countywide, there have already been 16 gang homicides--the same number as last year’s record total.

Walters emphasized that the Santa Ana gang patrols, styled after the patrols that are periodically conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department, have been instructed not to arrest anyone without probable cause.

Nevertheless, Rebecca Jurado, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the sweeps may violate constitutional rights. In Los Angeles, police were similarly criticized by residents who claimed that youths were being arrested just because they looked like gang members.

“It seems that the sole propose of these sweeps is not to protect the neighborhoods but to arrest people,” Jurado said. “The police are putting particular neighborhoods in a situation where the residents are not allowed to go outside if they wear the wrong clothes color.”

The first Santa Ana gang sweep began at 7 p.m. Friday and continued into the night, targeting neighborhoods where gangs are considered most active. The special patrol had just gotten under way when the police received calls of a drive-by shooting and a stabbing in gang-riddled areas.

In the drive-by shooting, one person was shot in the foot, police said. There were no other details.

“This is just a typical Friday,” Lt. David Salazar said. “We just have more officers that are able to respond.”

Two people who live in the neighborhood of the shooting at Walnut and Raitt streets welcomed the heavier police patrols.

“It’s about time. We need them. It’s getting desperate around here,” said 29-year-old Jose Alfaro. “I just hope this will work.”

More sweeps are expected to take place tonight and Sunday night. And if found effective, the weekend policing could continue indefinitely, Walters said.

The special gang suppression team, which includes traffic, canine and patrol units, is also being directed to strictly enforce traffic and probation laws. Those arrested Friday were taken to the department’s substation on Bristol and McFadden streets, which was converted into a processing location.

Officers were also expected to begin enforcing a 10 p.m. curfew that requires children under age 18 to be under adult supervision while in public places, Walters said.

In addition, Walters said, police legal advisers are researching whether parents of children who violate the curfew can be charged with a criminal misdemeanor punishable by a $600 fine or a short jail term.

Walters also announced Friday that within two months he plans to double the size of the Santa Ana police gang detail, from four members to eight.

The four additional officers will be primarily in charge of patrolling gang territory rather than investigating specific cases, Walters said. The city is estimated to have 60 gangs with 7,000 gang members.

“Thank God they’re finally listening and adding more officers,” said Santa Ana City Councilman Richards L. Norton. “But it’s too bad that it took so many deaths for them to do this. But (even with four more officers in the gang unit) make no mistake about this, it’s not enough.”

Walters said the decision to add the officers was not a result of the recent shootings, but has been in the planning for nearly a year. The Police Department was going to quietly add the officers onto its gang detail and its narcotics unit this year, but Walters said he decided to announce it publicly because of the media attention brought by the gang shootings.

The new gang officers probably will be chosen from among the department’s current 351-member roster, and four new officers will be hired to fill whatever vacancies occur. The cost of adding the officers is about $300,000 annually, officials said.

Currently, each investigator in the four-member gang detail handles a monthly average of 13 high-priority cases, such as aggravated assaults or homicides, said police spokesman Lt. Robert Helton. Because of the large number of gang-related incidents in the city, gang investigators can handle only those cases with the best leads or most promising suspects, Helton said.

The Police Benevolent Assn., which represents the department’s rank and file, has long called for expanding the gang detail. In a recent interview, union President Don Blankenship said gang officers are overworked and have little time to patrol the streets to prevent crimes.

Until now, he said city officials have refused to hire additional officers because of budget constraints.

“I know elected officials are as concerned about gang violence as I am,” Blankenship said. “It’s time to stop looking at this ongoing tragedy in the dollar-and-cent perspective.”

Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this story.