Gang Turmoil in Long Beach : Taking Back the Streets : Gangs: Officers practice ‘zero tolerance approach.’ Even the slightest infraction gets police attention.

The 14-year-old boy looked dumbfounded when several Long Beach police officers approached him and a friend as they made a late-night trip to a mini-market. “My homeboys wanted some potato chips,” explained the youngster, who said he was a gang member.

Police filled out information cards on the teen-agers, took their pictures and admonished them to heed the city’s 10 p.m. curfew for children under 16. Then, the officers let them go.

The scene is being repeated nightly in the southwestern section of the city, where a new police task force has set out to crack down on suspected gang members. As many as 89 officers patrol an area that includes some of the city’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods.

Mayor Ernie Kell announced the creation of the group after a recent surge of gang violence in the inner city, including the Aug. 4 slaying of 12-year-old Anita Rochell Briones. Witnesses said Briones was gunned down as she begged for her life.

Kell also released new crime statistics showing that violent crimes throughout the city had increased 14% in the first six months of the year from the same period a year ago. Although the number of murders declined nearly 8% from 51 to 47, the number of rapes rose 7.9% and aggravated assaults increased 20.2%. Robberies were up 7.8%.

The new task force includes 20 officers already assigned to an existing gang unit, but the additional officers have been pulled in from the detective division, motorcycle patrol and other duties.

The reassignments mean that other police details will be stretched thin, but something must be done to combat the increased violence, said Assistant Police Chief Eugene Brizzolara. “The level of violent crime has risen to a proportion that is not acceptable to the community,” Brizzolara said.

Since last Thursday, the task force has concentrated its patrols in an area from the city’s western boundary to Junipero Avenue and from Willow Street to Ocean Boulevard. The show of force is designed to let gang members know that police are in the area and will stop them for even the smallest of infractions, such as loitering. Officers call the strategy a “zero tolerance approach.”

On Monday night, for example, a carload of teen-agers was pulled over for playing the radio too loud. One officer cited the driver for blasting music from his car and not wearing seat belts. Six other occupants leaned on the patrol car, their hands on the hood. Some of them were giggling.

“I’m going to give you some advice. This is not a game,” Officer Raymond Otero said to one of the occupants. “It’s past 10 o’clock. You’re underage. This is a crime suppression task force. If we catch you out again after 10 o’clock, you are going to jail.”

Juveniles cited for curfew violations are taken to the downtown station’s juvenile detention center, where they are fingerprinted and photographed, counseled and released to their parents, according to juvenile Detective Robert McDonnell.

In the first three days of the crackdown, officers made 15 felony arrests, 68 misdemeanor arrests and 10 other arrests related to various drug violations, according to Deputy Chief Billy Thomas. Task force members also issued 335 moving violations and 47 parking citations, interviewed 315 people and filed 59 crime reports, Thomas said.

Police are also filling out hundreds of interview cards--listing a person’s description, gang affiliation and nickname--to help track down suspects in the future. Earlier this week,for example, witnesses to a gang shooting described the assailant and provided his gang nickname. When officers compared notes, one of them realized that he had interviewed someone by the same nickname and description the week before, Sgt. Scott Robertson said.

The intensified patrols and strategy of interviewing people “can help send out a message: ‘We know who you are. If you do something wrong, we’re going to find you,’ ” said Robertson, a vice detective who was pulled from his regular duties for the task force.

Police officials said they could not provide statistics showing how the task force’s activity compares with arrests, citations and other stops carried out before the task force was formed.

Nonetheless, some officials said that the task force is having an effect. “We’ve been here less than a week and I can see the impact,” said acting Cmdr. Lt. Tony Batts, who heads the task force. Batts and a few officers said that they are seeing fewer gang members hanging out on the streets. “They know we’re here,” one officer said.

The publicity alone about the group’s existence has kept gang members off the streets, they said.

But some of the people stopped this week said they had done nothing wrong and resented the questioning.

“I live here. We were just talking,” said Salvador Nuno, who was standing outside his home when officers stopped to interview him and three others. Officers said the young men were loitering. No one was arrested or cited, but officers filled out information cards on two of the other young men for the department’s gang files. Police acknowledged that Nuno has no gang affiliation.

Marco Corona, 19, said he was stopped and questioned when several patrol cars swooped into his west side neighborhood in response to a call about a possible gang fight. Police did not find any fighting when they arrived at the parking lot at Santa Fe Avenue and 19th Street, but interviewed teen-agers hanging out in the area. The officers let him go after questioning him.

“It makes me feel bad. I didn’t do anything,” Corona said in Spanish.

Gerardo Velasquez, 22, who was watching the interrogations from a distance, said he had been stopped earlier.

“I’m a working man. It doesn’t bother me that they stop gang members. But I don’t want them to discriminate against me because I’m Hispanic,” Velasquez said in Spanish. “I respect them because they are officers and I think they ought to respect me.”

Police officers said their decisions on whether to stop someone are based on a number of factors, such as whether someone acts suspiciously, is wearing gang attire or is in a high-crime area.

“The courts say we can stop and talk with anyone we want,” Robertson said. “A guy can say to me ‘You have no reason to stop me.’ And if I don’t have a legal reason, he can walk away.”

Most people who were stopped, however, were cooperative. And on the Monday night patrol, the officers responded courteously to those they stopped to interview.

“We try to maintain a good relationship with people out here, even with the crooks,” Robertson said.

Officials said they will evaluate the task force’s activities after 30 days to decide whether the effort should continue.

Councilman Evan Anderson Braude, whose downtown district is patrolled by the task force, praised the group, saying, “People know they’re around. They’re visible . . . It’s a short-term, high-intensity program designed to strike a little fear in the hearts of these little terrorists out there.”

Councilman Ray Grabinski, whose district is partially patrolled by the task force, said that it’s too early to tell whether it has made an impact. Grabinski also questioned the wisdom of a short-term task force.

Crime Statistics for Long Beach

The categories for the most serious crimes rose nearly 14% in the first six months of 1991 as compared to the same period last year, according to Long Beach Police Department statistics. Total crimes in the city rose 0.6%. Here is the list of serious crimes, by category:

Crimes Against 1st Half 1st Half Percent People of 1990 of 1991 Change Murder 51 47 -8.0 Manslaughter 1 2 +100.0 Rape 138 149 +7.9 Robbery 1,926 2,077 +7.8 Aggravated Assault 2,140 2,574 +20.2 Total 4,256 4,849 +13.9

Crimes Against 1st Half 1st Half Percent Property of 1990 of 1991 Change Residential Burglary 3,541 2,865 -19.0 Commercial Burglary 917 961 +4.7 Auto burglary 3,610 4,271 +18.3 Grand theft 1,083 1,116 +3.0 Petty theft 2,080 2,248 +8.0 Bike theft 1,214 631 -48.0 Auto theft 3,556 3,469 -2.4 Arson 45 47 +4.4 Total 16,046 15,608 -2.7

Source: Long Beach Police Department