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She Stakes the People’s Turf in Prosecuting Gang Crimes

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Kim Menninger has lived in Orange County for 33 years, but she’d rather not say where.

By putting some of its most violent gang members behind bars during the last five years, the Orange County prosecutor has become a target.

“There are a lot of people I’ve put away for a long period of time who may not be too happy about what I’ve done,” said Menninger, recalling an automobile chase in which she was pursued by someone wearing a ski mask she suspects might have been a gang member.

She lost him.

The 37-year-old deputy district attorney feels like she has also become a target for a segment of law-abiding citizens who vehemently oppose the daytime curfew ordinance she helped draft. Menninger has been one of the leading advocates of the proposed ordinance, adopted by four Orange County cities so far, that would allow police to issue truancy citations to students younger than 18 who cannot prove they are legally out of school.

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Since July, Menninger has made numerous appeals for the proposed ordinance at school board and city council meetings where she has been excoriated by home-schooling advocates and other opponents. They say the proposal, if adopted, would violate the civil liberties of children who are legally out of school.

“It’s as though I was a witch on trial for witchcraft in the middle of Salem,” Menninger said of the experience. “They’ve attacked me personally, professionally--in every way imaginable.”

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The proposed ordinance was born of worries about soaring numbers of gang members in Orange County, now estimated at 23,000 by law enforcement officials who say truancy creates a breeding ground for young criminals.

For the most part, “I’ve not seen any gang members who are not truants first,” Menninger said. “The problem is that in the last 20 years, our county has not done anything to prevent truancy. There have been no repercussions for it.

“On the Santa Ana school attendance review board, I have seen numerous children from the ages of 6 to 10 who are missing 120 days out of a 180-day school year. It’s really sad. How are they going to succeed?”

She said they become the new recruits for Orange County gangs, which are battling one another with increasing ferocity.

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“There is a war going on. I prosecuted a conspiracy to commit murder earlier this year. Two guys were at the wake of a friend who’d been murdered in a drive-by shooting. Then they went out to do a drive-by on the people they suspected to be the perpetrators.

“It’s not hard to understand the mentality, but it’s outrageous that this is going on in Orange County.”

When accused gang criminals are arrested and brought to court, Menninger said, she gets little help from the community in prosecuting them.

“In gang cases, we generally do not have any contact with the victims. Most gang victims are gang members, so they don’t cooperate with law enforcement, no matter what.

“This is the purest practice of law I’ve ever found. In other kinds of cases, you can get real caught up in the emotions of the victims. In gang cases, you are completely unaffected by anything except the truth of what has happened. You can take a witness, and if they’ve said something earlier that they retract on the stand, you can use what they originally said to the police officers.

“That’s primarily how we prove our cases, because most witnesses to gang crimes are gang members. Or they live in the community and are afraid of gang members. They don’t want to testify because of [fear of] retribution.”

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Menninger said she often feels frustrated that the public does not realize how serious the Orange County gang problem has become.

“The gang membership numbers are climbing dramatically. There are 23,000 gang members in Orange County and we have maybe 900 beds in the whole county for juveniles,” she said. “We’re not being realistic about the problem. What people don’t always realize is that every city in this county has gang members.

“Most people don’t have a clue what it’s like in the homes of these people where most of these kids come from. They would be shocked at the low level of living that exists right here in Orange County. A lot of these kids have nothing to come home to.”

Punishment alone will not solve the gang problem, said Menninger, who also works with a grant-funded gang-prevention program and several organizations whose volunteers counsel troubled families and give school presentations.

“We’ve got to get parents to start taking responsibility for their children. We’ve got a lot of children having children. In my work with the attendance review board, I see families where there’s usually about 12 to 15 years between the age of the children and the parents.

“There is a side of society that resents having government involved in the raising of children. But if the parents aren’t going to raise their own children, then who will? If we don’t step in, these kids will roam the streets and turn into criminals.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Profile: Kim Menninger

Age: 37

Hometown: Prescott, Ariz.

How long in Orange County: 33 years

Family: Married

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA; law degree from Loyola Law School

Background: Criminal investigation intern in Washington public defender’s office; Orange County deputy district attorney since 1987; gang prosecutor for five years; TARGET gang prevention team member in Santa Ana; helped draft proposed daytime curfew ordinance for minors

Volunteer work: Board chairman for Laurel House teen shelter in Tustin; chairman of Winifred Campbell Auxiliary of Assistance League of Tustin; board chairman of PEP Talk parenting education program; first vice regent of Katuktu chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution; Santa Ana Unified School District student attendance review board member

On gang violence: “There is a side of society that resents having government involved in the raising of children. But if the parents aren’t going to raise their own children, then who will? If we don’t step in, these kids will roam the streets and turn into criminals.”

Source: Kim Menninger; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times

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