Brea : Council OKs Funds for Anti-Gang Unit

Reacting to an increasing gang problem, the City Council has allocated $80,000 to continue financing a special police gang-suppression unit.

The part-time task force, started last year as a pilot program, consists of patrols of five officers and one sergeant. Both Brea and the city of Yorba Linda, which contracts with Brea for police service, will be covered by the unit.

The program was initiated after both cities experienced a rapid climb in gang activity. According to police records, documented gang-related incidents have increased 270% since July, 1988.

“The amount of gang activity has been traditionally small in Brea and Yorba Linda,” Capt. Jim Oman said. “But there is no doubt that it is increasing. . . . We are finding plenty out there for (the unit) to do.”

About 12 officers and three sergeants with special training will rotate the Friday and Saturday night shifts. The $80,000 will go mainly toward paying the officers overtime, police officials said.

Driving unmarked police vehicles, the unit will concentrate its activities in “problem areas.” Its main duties will be to identify gang members and gang-related activities.

The unit will also conduct surveillances of liquor stores to identify possible violators of beverage-control laws and assist probation and parole officers in monitoring the activities of parolees.

According to staff reports, some inmates in state correctional and youth authority facilities who have participated in violent gang-related crime have permanent residences in both Brea and Yorba Linda.

The pilot project “seems to be working well,” Oman said. “There have been incidents when we really needed them,” Oman said.