ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : A Promising Plan to Fight Gangs

To effectively meet one of its next big challenges--a major campaign at gang suppression--the Santa Ana Police Department must do two things. It must adopt the best of what it has done in recent years of community-based work but at the same time avoid some of the pitfalls of the past, including its inclination to round up the usual suspects.

To its credit, the department has enjoyed some national attention for efforts to foster close cooperation with the neighborhoods through an emphasis on foot patrols and other community-oriented strategies.

At the same time, the department justifiably has been criticized for heavy-handedness in recent efforts to crack down on the homeless in the Civic Center area. One particularly regrettable incident was the arrest and shackling of more than 60 homeless people in Santa Ana Stadium. A Municipal Court judge eventually dismissed a flock of charges, ruling that the effort was discriminatory.

The assignment the department has carved out is a promising plan to establish a 17-member task force to concentrate on gang-related crime. Done correctly, it can be an effective local law-enforcement tool and serve as an example to other cities in Orange County. If the Police Department successfully navigates the fine line between effective gang suppression and the infringement of civil liberties, it will have accomplished much.

The task force represents a major commitment of resources--almost triple the size of the existing anti-gang efforts in the city--in a time when there is increased competition for law-enforcement dollars. The rearrangement of priorities is justified by the estimated 6,000 gang members in Santa Ana, which is the highest concentration in Orange County. So the department is to be commended for deciding that the problem warrants a special place in the budget.

Lt. Robert Helton, a department spokesman, says that the new gang-suppression unit is designed to anticipate gang violence before it happens and that it represents a different philosophy from previous programs of weekend sweeps of targeted neighborhoods. The idea is to identify gang members, with special attention to those who commit violent crimes.

Police Chief Paul M. Walters’ statement that “we’re going to use every legal means to keep (gang members) out of the streets” is fine--provided the emphasis remains on the “legal means.” The effort in Santa Ana, a city which last year led the county with 15 gang-related killings, will be worth watching elsewhere.