Gates Declines to Join O.C. Gang Strike Teams : Crime: Sheriff says the plan, although widely supported, offers nothing new. County officials are befuddled.

Sheriff Brad Gates has declined to join ranks with other top law enforcement officers in Orange County in a plan to dispatch special strike teams to gang-troubled neighborhoods.

The sheriff was invited to assign deputies to join a team of prosecutors and probation officers that would target gangs in south Orange County as part of a $2-million proposal by Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi. The plan goes before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The South County team was to be one of six special units proposed to weed out the area’s most hardened gang leaders. Police chiefs in Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Costa Mesa, Orange and Anaheim have embraced the strategy--modeled after the highly successful program in the city of Westminster--but Gates has not signed on.

The sheriff said Wednesday there was nothing “new” about the district attorney’s proposal, and that he is satisfied with current prosecution and probation services offered to gang cases that his deputies handle in South County.

The sheriff’s jurisdiction includes nearly all of South County, where about 800 gang members and 14 separate gang organizations claim territory.

“I don’t have to participate in the district attorney’s plan,” Gates said. “This has nothing to do with me.”

Capizzi said he could not explain the sheriff’s decision not to participate. “I can’t speak for the sheriff,” the district attorney said. “But what’s important to note is that six jurisdictions have indicated a desire to participate and we are going forward.”

Another county official familiar with the program said: “This has just thrown us for a loop. We thought he (Gates) would be very anxious to participate. We’re still wondering why he isn’t on board.”

Supervisor William G. Steiner said Wednesday he expected Gates to present an alternative plan that would address the trouble spots in South County.

Gang violence has exploded in Orange County, with 60 gang-related killings this year countywide. Authorities estimate there are nearly 17,000 gang members in Orange County.

The Sheriff’s Department has a gang enforcement unit of eight officers who work with the County Probation Department and routinely submit cases for prosecution to the district attorney’s office. The sheriff provides law enforcement services for nine cities in the county, seven of them in South County.

Capizzi’s plan calls for police, prosecutors and probation officers to be teamed in the same office to work cases together, from investigation through prosecution. The teams would specifically target gang leaders in an attempt to fracture gang organizations and their presence in specific neighborhoods.

The plan is an extension of the Westminster police project, Tri-Agency Resource Gang Enforcement Team (TARGET), which investigators and prosecutors say has resulted in a dramatic reduction in gang-related violence in that city during the past year.

As proposed, Capizzi has called for the cities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Orange and South County to receive one tri-agency team each. Westminster would keep its program and Santa Ana, which leads the county with 41 gang-related deaths this year, would get two units.

Regardless of the sheriff’s position, Capizzi said he would be asking the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to approve the plan, including creating a gang prosecution and probation team in South County, hoping that the Sheriff’s Department would take advantage of its presence there. It was not immediately known where the South County team would be located.

Although the county’s most serious gang problem is centered in the central cities, the violence has shaken South County cities such as San Clemente, where a high school senior recently was speared through the skull with a paint roller by suspected gang members.

Last week, a legion of parents, school administrators, business leaders and law officers gathered for the county’s first gang summit to call for more help in controlling the spread of gang violence. Gates was among the many government and law enforcement officials who attended the summit.

Capizzi and other law enforcement officials say the TARGET program is one of the most effective weapons they have against street gangs.

“I have no explanation why the list of endorsers for this plan would not include everybody involved in law enforcement,” said Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, whose district includes some of the most gang-ridden cities in the county. “I am very familiar with this program from the city of Westminster, and I have committed my personal support, and I will do what I can to see it spread to other parts of the county.”

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, also supportive of the district attorney’s plan, said he had not talked to the sheriff “about his concerns. But I am confident that things can be worked out.”

Steiner said he supports Capizzi’s plan, describing it as a “great step in the right direction.”

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, whose district includes virtually all of South County, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

“The key and the magic to this program is to commit people to a unit that doesn’t work on anything else but special gang cases,” said one county official. “Until (Gates) agrees, there won’t be a (full) TARGET team down there.”

On Wednesday, Capizzi filed his plan for consideration by the Board of Supervisors. In addition to funding approval, the district attorney has asked for 23 new positions--17 for the district attorney’s office and six for the Probation Department.

“The program’s basic purpose is to direct the teams’ efforts at the small number of gang leaders who commit the most frequent and violent crimes,” Capizzi wrote in the proposal.

“Utilizing this strategy, the team should be able to remove gang leadership, thereby causing the gangs to weaken, disintegrate and fall apart.”