Fighting Crime on Doorstep of Government : Civic Center: Sheriff’s deputies now patrol the Hall of Administration and Hutton Towers complexes during rush hours to shield workers from the ‘gantlet of thugs.’

Orange County officials have stepped up security police patrols around the Civic Center government complex to provide additional protection for hundreds of employees and visitors who are increasingly crossing the path of gunfire and other crimes.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies now patrol the Hall of Administration and Hutton Towers complexes during morning and afternoon rush hours to shield workers from the “gantlet of thugs” that prey on workers as they travel to and from their offices, County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said.

In recent months, Sheriff’s Capt. Bill Miller said, gang-related violence has spilled out into the streets in the shadow of the Sheriff’s Department and officers have found pockmarks left by flying bullets at the county’s Hutton complex, across from the Civic Center at Santa Ana Boulevard and Flower Street. “We certainly don’t think they are targeting people inside,” Miller said of the bullet-hole discoveries, “but it’s enough to cause some concern.”

Dozens of government employees also have complained in recent months of being accosted and shaken down for money as they have walked to their office buildings from adjacent parking areas.

“I’ve seen drug deals going down looking just outside my window,” said County Supervisor William G. Steiner, whose office sits on the fifth-floor of the Hall of Adminstration. “It’s more than just a problem with vagrants.”

Meanwhile, officials with the county Marshal’s Office said Friday that they are considering recommendations from state court authorities to install electronic screening devices at the entrances of the courthouse in the Civic Center, and also at the other courthouses in the county.

Assistant Marshal Jim Hill said the neighborhood criminal element was not a factor in the consideration. Rather, he said, court administrators in Sacramento have heard concerns from judges about the lack of detection systems in places that naturally draw people involved in criminal cases.

At the county’s Juvenile Justice Center in Orange, the only court facility in the county equipped with electronic screening, marshals are continually detecting visitors armed with knives, brass knuckles, pepper spray or Mace, Hill said.

“We don’t catch that in Santa Ana because we don’t have the equipment there,” Hill said. “Some judges are amazed that we’re not already doing this.”

The recent security concerns, however, have been prompted by the complaints from county government workers who say their walks to and from nearby parking structures have sometimes become frightening experiences, officials said.

For years, the Civic Center has been a gathering spot for the homeless, but county and sheriff’s officials say the crime concerns have escalated because a more serious criminal element has moved into the area.

“We have people who had been pushed and shoved and have had things taken away from them,” Schneider said. “It a real problem. . . . We’ve had to bring in the extra security and take additional precautions.”

One of those precautions, Schneider said, arranging closer parking for female employees and others who expressed concerns so that they would not have to walk long distances to their cars.

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For some employees, the most troublesome area has been the approximately two-block walk between the Hall of Adminstration and a parking structure next to the Santa Ana Library, he said.

“People said they were getting shoved around and intimidated into giving away money,” Schneider said. “It’s unfortunate, but we have been trying to do everything we can to make our employees feel safe.”

Capt. Miller acknowledged that various county managers have requested the additional security in response to employee complaints. The additional deputies have been dispatched to the Hall of Administration and Hutton Towers areas in the past 60 days.

The Hall of Administration is the heart of county government and includes the offices of the Board of Supervisors. The Hutton Towers complex includes the county’s Environmental Management Agency offices, Integrated Waste Management Agency and sheriff’s Forensic Sciences Department.

The Civic Center, located between Santa Ana Boulevard and Civic Center Drive, also houses Santa Ana city government offices, the federal courthouse and other federal and state government offices.

The Sheriff’s Department sits across the street from the Civic Center on Flower Street.

Capt. Miller said that concerns about violence and shootings within steps of the government complex have increased in the past year and a half.

In March, a daylight attack outside the Sheriff’s Department headquarters sent people scrambling for cover when assailants pounced on a man and clubbed him with a tire iron before firing guns in the area. No one was struck by the gunfire, and the injured man, blood dripping from his head, wandered into the nearby lobby of the Men’s Central Jail looking for help.

Miller, whose North County command includes security inside county government buildings, said deputies also were on alert earlier this year when stray gunfire flew outside the rear entry of the jail.

Again no one was injured, and Miller said he believed the gunfire was part of an exchange between rival neighborhoods in the area.

“The county Civic Center area has matured like any other metro area over the years,” Miller said, “and you pick up the same kinds of problems of people pollution that happen everywhere else.”