Westminster Winning Gang Fight : Law enforcement: City-county team goes after ‘hard-core’ offenders, successfully prosecuting 25 gang leaders in first year.

An ongoing crackdown on gang activity in the city has reduced crime and led to the successful prosecution of 25 “hard-core, violent” gang leaders in its first year, according to a report released Wednesday.

The effort by Westminster police and the county’s Probation Department and district attorney’s office that began in January, 1992, identified more than 1,776 members of 63 gangs, the report said. It also targeted 53 gang leaders for “intensive surveillance, investigation and prosecution.”

By January of this year, 35 of the gang leaders were in custody, the report said.

“In effect, this program identifies the most dangerous gang leaders and then brings this coordinated team in specifically to handle them,” Police Chief James Cook said.

Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi said chances are good that the two-year pilot program, called the Tri-Agency Resource Gang Enforcement Team (TARGET), eventually will expand to other cities.

“All indications are at this point that it is very successful,” he said. “It is certainly meeting and exceeding our expectations; we’re very happy with the results.”

Ten other Orange County cities operate pared-down versions of the gang unit, but Westminster has the most extensive and successful program, said Colleene Hodges, the supervising probation officer of the unit.

“We’ve had excellent results,” she said. “From our perspective, the combination of the three departments is like a turbocharge: what role one doesn’t play, the other does. We have legal and social capabilities all present at one time in approaching problems.”

The program, which costs the city $160,000 a year, teams up two police officers, a deputy district attorney, a district attorney investigator and a representative from the Probation Department, all working full time from the basement of the Westminster Police Department.

“Putting them under one roof and having them work together eliminates a lot of wasted time and effort,” Capizzi agreed. “Everyone is pulling together on the same set of oars.”

The unit also established a computer database on gang members, which enabled officers to track their contacts with police in neighboring cities. The team also compiled extensive files and profiles of those identified as the city’s most dangerous gang members.

Cook said the program already has made a tangible impact. Gang-related calls dropped by 80% in one TARGET focus area, and the unit was able to leave the neighborhood.

“It took 20 to 30 years to develop this crime, and it isn’t going to be cured overnight,” said Cook, who noted that the average sentence for those convicted of gang violence is several years. “But we are reducing the amount of crime; our statistics bear that out.”

The year-end report was prepared by data analysts Peggy Smith and Douglas Kent, both of Cal State Long Beach. It disclosed that:

* Sixty-two cases involving 76 gang member defendants and co-defendants have been prosecuted. In the 50 completed cases, all of the defendants have been found guilty or had juvenile petitions sustained. The other cases are pending.

* The team has documented the criminal activities of 13 gangs operating in Westminster in preparation for prosecution of gang members under the Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention (STEP) Act, which, under certain circumstances, makes participation in a street gang a crime.

* Intensive supervision has been provided to gang members on probation who are considered “hard core.”

* Eighty percent of gang violence was directed against civilians, 13% against police officers, and 7% against other gang members.

* Forty-five of 53 targeted gang leaders were suspects in violent crimes, and 17 were victims of violent crimes.

Cook said he hopes that the information gathered from the report can be used to keep gang leaders, especially repeat offenders, off the street.

“The statistics show that these guys are absolutely violence-prone,” he said. “I feel for the community safety that these hard-core, multiple offenders must be removed from the community, then the prevention programs can come in and offer intervention for the less involved fringe members.”

Portrait of a Gang Member The demographics of gang membership in Westminster: Race / ethnicity Asian: 70% Latino: 24% Other: 6% Age 22-25: 19% 18-21: 51% 16-17: 20% 15 & under: 2% Unknown: 1% Over 25: 7% Source: Cal State Long Beach