Countywide : 2 Cities Will Join Anti-Gang Program

The County Board of Supervisors this week approved contracts that will allow two cities, Lake Forest and Mission Viejo, to join the 11 communities that are part of the Orange County Probation Department’s gang-suppression program.

The program was created to better monitor known and suspected gang members on probation for earlier crimes, and to mount a more concerted effort to reform them, said John Robinson, probation field services chief deputy.

Under the program, a deputy probation officer will be assigned to work within the two cities, closely monitoring people who are on probation and “have a strong indication of gang association,” county reports show.

The probation officer will be teamed with sheriff’s deputies and a school district representative in the area to devise anti-gang strategies and put together gang-education seminars.

While the two cities are not known as gang hot spots, Lt. Randy Blair, who heads the Sheriff’s Department’s 33-deputy detachment in Mission Viejo, said local politicians, police and residents are committed to heading off trouble.

“We’re not going to passively sit by and let it happen here,” Blair said. “We are going to be aggressive in our posture.”

For the probation officer assigned to Lake Forest and Mission Viejo, the county will cover 45% of the annual $475,928 cost because the officer also will assist a broader South County anti-gang effort. The two cities will split the remainder.

The 7-year-old program’s member cities are Anaheim, Dana Point, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, La Habra, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Orange, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana and Westminster.