ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Arguing With Success

It’s hard to argue with success, but some people in Orange are doing just that. Recently, about 200 people, mostly Orange residents, protested that the city’s new community-based policing in the troubled El Modena area coddles illegal immigrants. To its credit, the City Council strongly backed Police Chief John R. Robertson’s important effort.

The plain fact is that the new program, which has been in operation for four months, is working remarkably well. Crime in the Villa Santiago apartments, where much of the trouble has been centered, has dropped by half. The surrounding area also has experienced an impressive decline in violent crime--the first decrease in eight years.

The city of Orange has tried other ways to reduce crime in the El Modena area, where crime had increased sevenfold since 1986. But the programs either were ineffective or backfired. One notorious blunder was the city’s role in a U.S. Border Patrol immigration raid in 1991 that centered on Villa Santiago. The raid was a major setback in community relations and did not reduce crime.

The city also has tried imposing an occupancy ordinance in the area to control overcrowding, which is believed to foster crime. But that effort was stymied when a similar ordinance in Santa Ana was found to be illegal.

Community policing, which includes foot patrols, is a much better way to go. It allows the police to be a positive force in the neighborhood. For example, instead of locking horns with the residents of El Modena on the issue of overcrowding, police now are working with the community to ease the problem. That’s a welcome change.

Those protesting the program seem to believe that the more programs Orange institutes in the El Modena area, the more illegal immigrants will be drawn to their city. But Councilwoman Joanne Coontz was right when she told protesters: “We can’t put a fence around us.” Each city must do its best to maintain order and protect residents. The place to control immigration is at the border.

City residents who are concerned about crime should applaud and support a program that obviously is working.