COUNTYWIDE : Gang Violence Rise Worries Supervisors

Seeking to attract more state money to combat gang activity in Orange County, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted a resolution expressing its concern over the dramatic increase in gang violence in the past five years.

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said more money is needed to hire full-time gang officers in local police departments, conduct gang-suppression programs, and establish computer linkups between county law enforcement agencies and a centralized gang-information bank.

“To help bring more grant monies into Orange County, the Board of Supervisors needs to demonstrate their strong stance against gangs and the county’s willingness to add their resources to local law enforcement agencies in fighting gangs,” Wieder said.

Larger cities in the county have seen a sharp increase in gang violence in recent years, and police officials say the problem is expected to become worse. Santa Ana alone has a gang population of 7,000, while Garden Grove has as many as 40 gangs with 3,000 members, according to police estimates.

“Gang violence has increased dramatically over the last five years,” Wieder said. “With continued budget shortfalls at every level of government, resources for combatting gang activity become more and more limited.”

The resolution says the county should encourage cooperative gang-suppression efforts by law enforcement agencies, because limited resources prevent many agencies from dedicating officers to full-time gang suppression.

It also says that gang prevention and intervention programs are the best hope for curbing youth involvement in gangs, and gang suppression conducted by law enforcement and probation officials is effective in combatting gang activity only in high-crime areas of the county.