Crime Increase Sparks Tax Proposal to Add 20 Officers : Assessment: Santa Ana voters would be asked to support a property tax hike averaging $50 annually. ‘. . . The bad guys are winning,’ a proponent says.

Citing an increase in gang violence and homicides, Santa Ana City Councilman Richards L. Norton said Wednesday that he wants to ask voters in November to support a special property tax that would add 20 police officers to the city’s 351-member department.

“We’re losing the battle on the streets,” Norton said, “and the bad guys are winning.”

Norton said he will ask the City Council on Monday to seek an “advisory” signal from voters on a police benefit assessment district proposal that would increase property taxes by an average of $50.

The $1.5 million that would annually be raised would go into a special fund to hire the additional officers, Norton said.

In November, 1988, voters in Inglewood overwhelmingly gave its City Council approval to become the first city in the state to establish an assessment district for more police protection. Supporters of the assessment fees say that Inglewood voters were persuaded to vote for such an increase after drug-related arrests ballooned in that city. After the fees were established, Inglewood was able to raise $1.5 million a year and hire 20 more officers for its 187-member force, said Inglewood Assistant City Manager Norman Y. Cravens.

According to state law, voters can raise taxes for police protection with a two-thirds vote. But city councils also have the ability to establish special assessment districts that require residents to pay extra fees for more police officers, Norton said.

“The ballot will basically ask residents whether they are fed up with the crime situation and want to get the problem solved,” Norton said.

Norton acknowledged that many voters could oppose the plan simply because it relies on a tax increase.

“I realize it might be an unpopular stance especially in election year,” said Norton, who is up for reelection this November. “But there is not enough fat on our budget to pay (for more officers.) If we don’t do something soon we’re going to have bigger problems.”

On Monday night, the City Council will also vote on a $218-million budget that allocates $43.8 million to the police.

Police Capt. Peter Jensen said his department has not received any details on the district assessment plan and was unable to comment on it.

Mayor Daniel H. Young said he also has not seen a copy of the proposal.

Don Blankenship, president of the Santa Ana Police Officers Assn., said he endorses the proposal as long as the money is directly targeted for the police force.

“We’re in total support if the money is going to be used to hire police officers,” Blankenship said. “We don’t want the public to be flimflammed by politicians and the money goes elsewhere.”

In February, the City Council turned down an assessment district proposal to pay for a four-day-a-week, 10-hour-a-day work schedule for its police officers despite arguments from supporters who said that such schedules attract officers to Santa Ana.

In a state report released last fall, statistics showed that violent crime in Santa Ana had risen 28.4% over the year before, a bigger increase than any other of the county’s six largest cities. In 1989, Santa Ana had 53 homicides, up from 38.

Since April, Santa Ana police have maintained a special weekend patrol in neighborhoods occupied by the city’s estimated 7,000 gang members. Police Chief Paul M. Walters established the team to counter a burst of gang violence in April that left two people dead and several others seriously wounded.

SANTA ANA CRIME STATISTICS

Murders and assaults rose dramatically last year, while robberies reached a six-year high.

Category 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Homicide 39 33 32 31 38 53 Rape 74 59 77 87 89 74 Assault with a deadly weapon 790 601 609 658 853 1,066 Robbery 835 865 1,005 799 1,041 1,125 Burglary 6,131 5,097 4,767 4,300 3,589 3,648 Auto theft 1,815 2,314 2,982 3,045 3,834 3,825

Source: Santa Ana police