Santa Clarita Begins Effort to Stop Gangs

Sheriff’s deputies in Santa Clarita are trying to enlist residents in the fight against a growing gang problem.

Gang activity in the suburban region is still minuscule compared to other communities in Los Angeles County, but “it’s like a cancer that’ll kill you unless you catch it early,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Wes McBride said Friday.

Of the 38,736 gang-related crimes in the county last year, only 166 took place in the Santa Clarita Valley, McBride said--but that’s two-thirds more than the 109 incidents the year before.

“It’s low, but it’s still unacceptable to us,” said Capt. Robert J. Spierer, head of the Santa Clarita station of the county Sheriff’s Department. “Law enforcement by itself cannot stem the tide; it has to be community effort.”

Spierer and other law enforcement officials met this week with about 40 parents at Canyon High School to discuss local anti-gang efforts. In December, a Canyon High student was stabbed on the campus, which increased many parents’ worries over gangs. Deputies said the 16-year-old boy suspected of doing the stabbing is a gang member, but that the attack was the result of an argument with a non-member, not a dispute between rival gangs.

“We need you to be our eyes and ears because we can’t always know everything that’s going on in the community,” Spierer told the parents.

He invited residents to participate in an anti-gang rally May 9 in the parking lot of the shopping center at 23222 Valencia Blvd. In the meantime, parents should report any gang activity they observe to sheriff’s deputies, he said.

Some parents at the meeting said their teen-agers were intimidated by gang members at local schools. “My boy is afraid he is going to get stabbed,” said one man, who asked not to be identified. Another parent said her son is afraid to walk home from junior high school because he has been harassed by gang members.

Spierer said he sympathized with their concerns, but cautioned that many tensions on campuses are not gang-related. And Bill White, principal of Canyon High, told the group that administrators have increased patrols by teachers and administrators at the school and that the campus is peaceful.

Nonetheless, a group of concerned parents is considering patrolling local campuses themselves during school hours to prevent gang activity, said Mike DeFrancis, a machinist with three sons in high school and junior high.

Two local gangs with about 75 to 125 members are based in east Newhall and Val Verde, and several loose-knit white supremacist groups have also infiltrated the valley’s six high schools and junior highs, deputies said.

Most crimes committed by local gang members involve vandalism, they said. Local gang members favor outfits that include baggy pants, wool shirts, black caps and Raiders or Kings jackets, Spierer said. But he cautioned that not everyone who wears such clothing is a gang member.

Last year, the Sheriff’s Department formed an anti-gang task force made up of deputies, school and city officials, and business leaders. The committee is studying the problem and so far has persuaded the city of Santa Clarita to spend about $80,000 to subsidize a jobs program for youths who might otherwise join gangs and for an anti-graffiti campaign, he said.

“There’s no model to prevent the spread of gangs,” said Lt. Marv Dixon, chairman of the task force. “We’re trying to create one.”