Special Unit Gets the Worst Offenders First : SPECIAL REPORT: FACING DOWN GANGS. <i> How One City Fights Back</i>

When Detective Mark Nye and his partner Lou Santaella go on patrol on weekends, everyone knows who they are. Their navy blue jackets clearly identify them.

The words “Gang Unit” emblazoned on the jackets and their T-shirts send a clear message to potential troublemakers in this city of 70,000, which has had its rough moments since it was founded in 1872 and was known previously as Gospel Swamp.

Currently, the city is engaged in an aggressive fight against street gangs, which have imposed a particular brand of violence and intimidation on neighborhoods.

The gang unit, a tough team of closely knit law enforcement officers that doesn’t take much guff from gang members, is one of the city’s main weapons.

The unit, a pilot program now in its second year, has been hailed as a success in getting violent, hard-core gang leaders off the street, and is effectively cutting gang activity within the city, police officials said. The Orange County Grand Jury recently issued a report recommending the program as a model for gang-fighting programs in other cities.

Called the Tri-Agency Resource Gang Enforcement Team--dubbed TARGET for short--the unit combines two police officers, two county probation officers and two members of the county district attorney’s office.

The group, as its acronym implies, targets specific gangs and gang leaders for its crackdowns--out of 80 individual targets, 43 leaders are now in custody, Nye said.

“If we could sit down and devise the perfect plan with funding not being an issue, they have the perfect operation,” said Lt. Kevin Raney of the Garden Grove Police Department. The Garden Grove gang unit cooperates with the Westminster Police Department on gang-related issues.

The program, which is the brainchild of Westminster Police Chief James Cook, costs the city about $600,000 a year.

In an office in the Police Department basement, decorated by color photos of weapons, mug shots and tattooed bodies of gang members, the team meets to hash out their plan of attack. Some days, team members perform the mundane tasks of cataloguing and filing gang-related cases.

But on patrol days, every Friday and Saturday night and some weeknights, Nye and the others emerge from their office to the stark reality of gangs, where even 12-year-old children carry loaded handguns and innocent residents become victims.

On a recent Saturday evening, Nye and a member of the County Probation Department, who asked that his name not be used, climbed into an unmarked police car about 6:30 p.m. The car, which could not be identified as a patrol car, had emergency equipment, a police radio, a cellular phone and a camera.

Nye and his partner from the Probation Department wore dark jeans and the navy T-shirts and jackets.

“They know who they’re dealing with, and we can skip the game-playing,” Nye said. “They can’t get away with their lies with us.”

On patrol, they wore bulletproof vests in case someone decided to break an unspoken gang rule about shooting at police officers. Nye carried a gun and handcuffs.

“Most gang members wouldn’t shoot at police,” Nye said. “But if they were wanted for a drive-by, they would do what they could to get away--if that means shoot at us, that would be in the cards.”

During the night, Nye and Santaella, who drives separately in a marked police car, might meet to visit gang hangouts, investigate suspicious activity and look for gang members who may be in violation of their probation.

Gang members on probation have an 8 p.m. curfew and are not allowed to associate with other known gang members or wear gang colors.

Nye, who has been a member of Westminster’s police force for 7 1/2 years, knows that the gang members he and his colleagues put away don’t always forgive and forget.

“They know us, they know our cars,” he said. “Even off-duty, I pay attention to who’s behind me.”

Nye said Asian gangs are responsible for 70% of gang activity in the city and that police have noticed an increase in female gangs. There are now four identified female Asian gangs that have been involved in shootings and who spray paint their logos across the city.

“Asian gangs are real mobile--they don’t claim turf like the Hispanic gangs,” Nye said. As a result, many Asian gang members come from other cities and even other states to visit friends or “commit criminal activity,” Nye said.

Nye and other members of the team recognize the only way to treat gang members, no matter what crimes they have committed, is with respect.

“We treat them fairly,” Rita Weber, the other probation officer on the gang unit, said in a telephone interview. “They understand the conditions and my role--if they’ve done something wrong they have to deal with it, and they understand that. I treat them with respect, and they respect me.”

As the sun was setting, the team decided to stop at a local coffee shop that has been a popular gang hangout and was the site of a beating and shooting of two teen-age girls, both Asian gang members, on May 29, police said. Both have recovered.

Cafes and coffee shops are often big gang attractions, especially the karaoke clubs. “They attract females, and the gangs go there to meet girls,” Nye said while approaching one coffee shop.

When the officers walked into the coffee shop, the people inside stopped talking, they looked at each other, they looked at the police officers and most of them continued smoking cigarettes. Some got up and left.

Teddy Huynh, a small man covered with tattoos, one proclaiming “Live in Vietnam, Die in the U.S.,” approached Nye and his partner. They went outside, and Nye began to question him. Although he was present at the shooting in May, he claimed ignorance.

“Hey, I didn’t see anything,” Huynh, 35, said.

The officers left the shop and continued looking for gang members.

“Based on my street experience, I can spot a gang member and their cars, I can sense a gang member,” said Nye while driving on Westminster Avenue.

About 10 p.m., the officers stopped at a 7-Eleven for coffee. They spotted a 15-year-old boy they recognized who is on probation, wearing a T-shirt with a bulldog on it and carrying a gang-trademark black bandanna. He’s a member of one of the most violent gangs, Nye said. They arrest him for probation violations--being out after the 8 p.m. curfew and associating with gang members--as his two friends look on.

The youth is taken to the Police Department.

Then about 11 p.m., Nye and the probation officer received a call about shots fired near Main and Olive streets. They, along with backup patrol cars, sped to the neighborhood.

At the scene, squad cars surrounded a light blue Camaro and police took five men into custody. On the street, they found a 9-millimeter pistol, which the men had thrown out of the car during the chase, officers said. Inside the car, they found two more guns.

The shooting, this time, was not gang related. It turned out the men apparently shot into the air after a dance.

In this particular neighborhood, there have been several shootings in the last month and a half, Nye said. In late June, two people were hit in a gang-related shooting on the same corner of Main and Olive.

“It’s not safe to walk home from school anymore,” said Shasta Rivera, 17, who grew up in the neighborhood. “There are shootings all the time--it’s scary. I wish there were more officers to help.”

Neighborhood residents said the presence of the gang unit has reduced violence there.

“They’ve been very good, especially lately,” said Mindy Tyler, 32. “They have been stopping (gang members) before they get into town. It has been quiet the last months because of the unit. They’ve arrested quite a lot of people, and they react fast with helicopters and police cars.”

Nye said the unit could use about four more officers, but he believes the team is making a difference in getting rid of gang activity.

“We put ‘em in jail, drive them out of state, or they just quit,” he said.

When their shift ends, it’s back to the Police Department basement, where they remove their jackets, do some paperwork and plan for the next patrol.