Joint Effort Cuts Gang Warfare in 2 Cities

Almost two months after Santa Paula and Ventura police forged a bond to fight gangs, Santa Paula Police Chief Walt Adair said Tuesday that gang warfare is declining.

The two police departments have always shared gang information, but two months ago the anti-gang task force was officially formed and began arresting youths suspected in the gang violence that plagues both cities.

Santa Paula has not had any drive-by shootings since then, and a Fourth of July stabbing was followed by the arrests of five suspected gang members, Adair said. The department has not been keeping statistics on gang-related crimes.

“We’re just not going to tolerate gang activity,” he said.

Ventura Police Capt. Ken Thompson, who heads the patrol officer detail that works in the joint gang task force, said gang activity also has declined in Ventura this summer.

In the first five months of this year, Ventura reported 70 gang-related arrests, 167 gang-related crimes and the city’s first gang-related death. Since the task force started, “They just haven’t been that active, maybe because we’ve placed some of the members in jail,” Thompson said. “Gang members realize that there is a kind of coordinated effort. The chance of getting caught is that much greater.”

The anti-gang task force was prompted by a wave of gang-related crime that culminated in the May 28 death of Samuel Ruiz, 40. Ruiz was shot after he quarreled with his next-door neighbor over a fight that involved their two sons, allegedly members of rival gangs.

In an unrelated incident May 30, 60 law enforcement officers, including SWAT teams from the Ventura Police Department and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, converged on a Santa Paula neighborhood. They arrested four Santa Paula men, including Larry Renteria and Arthur Banuelos, suspected gang members who were charged in connection with a drive-by shooting May 18.

The raid turned up a cache of weapons, as well as scrapbooks and photos seized as evidence of gang affiliation, Adair said.

In June, Santa Paula officers began distributing notices to about 100 known gang members and associates, warning them against participation in three known Santa Paula street gangs, the Party Boyz, the Crazy Boyz and the Crimies.

The notices warned youths that police officers would construe gang association as a crime that could lengthen a prison term by up to three years, Adair said.

Then on July 12, about 15 officers from Santa Paula and Ventura arrested five juveniles on suspicion of stabbing Jerry Hernandez, 19, at a Fourth of July celebration.

Despite its reported success, the anti-gang policy has drawn criticism from relatives of the youths arrested in the police raids. Some of the relatives contend that their residences were damaged, personal belongings confiscated and families threatened by the SWAT teams that broke into their residences during the early morning raid.

Santa Paula does not have its own SWAT team and uses outside law enforcement agencies in raids when weapons might be involved, Adair said.

At one point, critics circulated a petition calling for Adair’s dismissal, a petition that has never been submitted to the Police Department or the City Council, he said.

“The only thing I can say to these people is we can understand how upsetting it could be to have police officers come in, take you down and make a complete search of your home,” Adair said.

But the youths were targeted by the task force because of the gang violence, Adair said. “People who do these shootings are going to have their doors kicked in, and they’re going to jail,” he said.

Two Santa Paula councilmen on Tuesday backed both the anti-gang task force’s tactics and the police chief. Although too early to say the gang problem has been solved, Santa Paula has become a little quieter in the past two months, the councilmen said.

“The last real incident we had was a stabbing on the Fourth of July,” said Councilman Alfonso Urias, who served as a Ventura police officer for 16 years. “It’s been relatively quiet. It appears to be working.”

The task force will operate as long as it is needed, Adair said.

Santa Paula Councilman Les Maland said he believes gangs have been wary of increased law enforcement. Maland said he has noticed a marked decrease in the number of drive-by shootings in the city.

Drive-by shootings “were becoming quite a common occurrence earlier this year,” Maland said, adding that since the task force has been operating, “We haven’t had any of that, and that’s good.”