Residents’ War Stories, Complaints, Suggestions on Gangs Told to Simi Panel

Sermons mingled with war stories Wednesday night as residents here aired complaints and suggestions about gang problems in America’s third-safest city.

The Community Gang Task Force heard from dozens of residents who alternately complemented the Police Department for tough enforcement, pleaded for more vigilant efforts and suggested a host of remedies ranging from Christian ministry to a citywide curfew for teens.

The task force--made up of city and school officials, law officers and merchants, prosecutors and typical residents--was convened last fall by the City Council to answer a new spate of gang violence. The panel is collecting stories and suggestions before recommending a plan of attack to the council.

One woman Wednesday told of being caught in a gang skirmish in October while she rode on Tapo Street in her car with her 5-year-old daughter. She said a carload of gang members slammed on the brakes in front of her, and another carload stopped behind her. She said a third car that became involved was driven by rival gang members, one of whom pointed a gun at her and her daughter.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, complained that the youths involved were never prosecuted because one who was beaten in an ensuing gang fight refused to press charges against his rivals.

At the very least, she told the task force, “each and every parent of [the gang members] involved should have been hauled in and informed of what went on.” She applauded beefed-up police patrols that have helped control gang violence since an outbreak last summer, but said more should be done.

Youth minister Leonard Duran said despite police intervention, gang violence is still hurting Simi Valley.

He told of meeting a bruised boy who said he was jumped outside a church Sunday. “And that tells me we still have a problem here,” Duran said.

Duran, who runs the Working On Real Kids ministry, was joined by several other ministers who offered their support and urged the task force members to get churches more involved in combating gang violence.

Several of the more than 60 residents who came to Sequoia Junior High School for the meeting complained loudly that youths are getting into trouble because their parents are not taking responsibility for them.

“I see a lot of kids out of school running around in gang attire,” said Kristen Schiermeyer. Police should crack down on truants, she said. She told of how a group of teenagers surrounded her and snatched her wallet from her shopping cart at a local strip mall.

The wallet was later recovered, but she said a group of about 50 kids threatened her when she confronted one of the thieves the next day. “These kids were like a mob mentality,” she said. “They came after me and said. ‘How dare you talk to one of us.’ ”

Christy Caldwell, 15, said “two new, all-girl rival gangs have tagged up the school locker room” at Valley View Junior High. “Three weeks later the graffiti is still there.”

Mike Nisito, who manages Simi Valley’s anti-graffiti program, told the task force that graffiti complaints have dropped significantly in the past two years. But he warned that gang members, who account for about 7% to 8% of the graffiti, may be turning to other crimes.

The task force, created in 1992 but later disbanded, was reactivated last year to deal with a spate of gang violence. While police say most of the trouble was imported by San Fernando Valley hoods looking for a fight, at least one killing and several beatings stemmed from local gang rivalries.

The council told the task force to come up with ways to combat gangs in Simi Valley beyond the traditional police approach of “zero tolerance.”

The city was flooded with applicants--46 people signed up for three citizen-member seats--and eventually four were selected. The public members of the task force are a former Long Beach gang member, a Los Angeles Police Department narcotics officer, the Simi Valley PTA Council’s safety chairwoman and a quality-assurance manager for a Chatsworth furniture company.