FILLMORE : Gang Patrol May Travel on Foot, Bike

The Fillmore City Council is looking for a way to fund police foot and bicycle patrols to fight gangs.

The council directed City Manager Roy Payne to scour the city budget for potential savings or possible fee increases that would pay for additional police services.

Acting Police Chief Dick Purnell of the Ventura County sheriff’s substation in Fillmore asked the council Tuesday for 16 additional police hours a week. The added hours would allow better supervision of North Fillmore’s Blaine Avenue and Lemon Way neighborhoods, where residents have complained of harassment by gang members, he said.

Purnell said the tone of gang interaction with residents has changed from furtive to aggressive.

“These are the same kids we’ve been seeing all along--but they’re older, and they’re bolder. They’ve been challenging citizens. . . .” he said.

Besides a general increase in burglaries, vandalism and graffiti, Purnell cited other evidence that local gangs are more daring.

He said the Fillmore sheriff’s station received a report two weeks ago of the wounding of a local youth during an alleged drive-by shooting outside the city limits. And officers broke up a fistfight last week involving female gang members near the Central Avenue business district, he said.

Sgt. Ken Cozzens said for five years the department has attributed most of Fillmore’s crime to gangs, and that their activity has steadily increased.