Santa Ana Gangs Feel Heat, Try Other Cities

In the wake of recent sweeps that police say have dramatically reduced Santa Ana’s gang violence, neighboring law enforcement officials said Thursday that they are grappling with more activity as the beleaguered gangs try to claim new territory.

Gang investigators in Anaheim are seeing more Santa Ana gang members than ever before, said Police Chief Joseph T. Malloy. The gang members have told investigators that the “heat is on” in their own city, Malloy said.

“Santa Ana gang-bangers are partying with our gang-bangers,” Malloy said. “They have come into the Anaheim area. The pressure isn’t on here as much as in Santa Ana.”

Officials in nearby cities such as Garden Grove and Westminster say Santa Ana gangs have not been more visible in those communities since the sweeps began. But Anthony Borbon, director of the county’s community service’s gang program, said that Santa Ana gangs are heading to cities all over the county.

“The Santa Ana gangs are moving out everywhere,” he said. “If you’re a criminal, you don’t stay and get hit over the head. You move out where there’s less of a problem for you.”

Colleene E. Hodges, a supervising officer for the county’s gang violence suppression unit, agreed. “They are affecting other cities and other counties and probably causing trouble for those areas,” she said.

As the gangs have staked out new areas, local law enforcement officials say they may create new headaches. Malloy said Anaheim police, for instance, have not been able to “squeeze out” the Santa Ana gangs because the department has only two gang investigators.

The investigators now are working with Santa Ana to identify the gang members, Malloy said.

The Santa Ana sweeps have resulted in a “moving-company” phenomenon, Malloy said, with whole gangs gradually relocating their operations to other cities. That has led Anaheim officials to begin meeting with neighborhood groups in an effort to brief them on how to fight crimes most associated with gangs--robbery and car theft, for instance.

Borbon said one of Santa Ana’s most active gangs has recently been trying to “stake its claim” to Anaheim’s Citron neighborhood near Harbor Boulevard and La Palma Avenue. Gang members have been spraying graffiti and hanging out in that area, Borbon said.

“They are not only making themselves visible,” Borbon said, “they are recruiting.”

Despite the sense that Santa Ana gangs are seeking safe haven in Anaheim and bringing their crimes with them, Anaheim police have not been able to determine whether the gangs have increased the overall number of gang crimes in the city, Malloy said.

Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters launched the gang sweeps in late April after a series of bloody drive-by shootings left two teen-agers dead and two other children, including an 8-year-old boy, seriously wounded. The sweeps, which are conducted every weekend, were modeled after similar patrols in Los Angeles and were enforced with the help of several county agencies.

Santa Ana police also doubled the size of its gang detail from four investigators to eight.