Police Put Cities’ Gangs on Notice

When they found a 17-year-old boy stabbed to death in the street two weeks ago, police in Oxnard thought it wouldn’t be long before his friends tried to exact some sort of revenge.

They were right.

A day after Genaro Jimenez was killed on his own turf, possibly by Ventura gang members, 18-year-old Fabian Arturo Flores was shot several times in the head while talking to a friend in Ventura. Police suspect Oxnard gang members in that attack.

Flores was still in critical condition late last week. If he survives, he will probably be a quadriplegic, officials said.

“We knew something would happen,” said one Oxnard officer. “We just ended up following the wrong kids.”

Concerned that more acts of revenge might follow, police in both cities are stepping up their patrols of gang turf, using various tactics to prevent an all-out war, including laws that make it easier to stop and search suspected gang members, and teams of officers specially trained to deal with gangs.

Immediately after Jimenez’s stabbing, Oxnard Police Sgt. Mike Matlock phoned his counterpart in Ventura, Police Sgt. Ken Corney. Both officers work on special enforcement divisions that handle gang crimes. Matlock warned Corney what might be coming.

“I let him know what was going on and what we were hearing,” Matlock said.

But despite their efforts, police couldn’t prevent Flores’ shooting.

“We can’t be everywhere,” Matlock said.

Nothing will guarantee an end to the violence, said Oxnard Police Chief Harold Hurtt.

“I don’t know what started this whole thing, but when you are dealing with people that are willing to kill each other over flashing gang signs and such, you can’t really stop them if they want to hurt each other,” Hurtt said.

The Oxnard department is responding with all its gang resources, he said.

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“We’re out there getting the word out, making contact with these gang members,” Hurtt said.

In Ventura, the police are doing much the same.

“In our department, our No. 1 priority is stopping any criminal gang activity of significance,” Ventura Police Chief Richard Thomas said. “An assault like [Flores’] . . . gets our full and undivided attention.”

Increased patrols and heightened awareness make it less likely that a gang member can cross into rival territory without being detected, Corney said.

“The idea is that we’re going to be looking for outside gang members or our gang members who are leaving their turf armed,” he said. “At least it makes it a lot less likely that they can go undetected.”

A drive-by shooting near Ventura High School three days after the killing of Jimenez highlighted the increased tensions between gangs, Sgt. Corney said.

Although no one was hurt in the shooting, Corney said it should serve as a warning to parents about the risks of allowing their children to dress in a style associated with gang members.

“You have to ask yourself at a time like this whether it’s wise to be wearing that style when it could make you a target,” Corney said.

Along with the increased awareness, Corney said police cooperation is vital when gang crimes cross city borders.

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The Ventura and Oxnard departments are sharing information and helping each other investigate the crimes.

“You have to rely on each other,” said Oxnard homicide investigator Sgt. Lee Wilcox. “Of course we help each other. Our intelligence base for Ventura gangs would be very limited, and you could say the same about the Ventura department and Oxnard gangs.”

Response to the heightened gang tension has also involved the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, which has lent its crime suppression unit to help on special patrols. But most of the work has come from the elite street-crimes teams, whose job it is to police gang crime in both cities.

One recent evening in Oxnard, a team of officers with the department’s special enforcement division searched six known gang members hanging out on the front stoop of an apartment building.

“What are you guys doing here?” asked Officer Brett Smith.

“Nothing, we’re just hanging out,” said one of the young men.

“Ah, little Stevie blue eyes, you staying out of trouble or are you just not getting caught?” Smith asked one of the young men.

“Not getting caught, man.”

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The youths--all described by police as gang members or associates, a few of them on probation--had already been warned on several occasions that if they hang out in front of the building, they could be cited for trespassing.

This is possible because property owners have authorized police to enforce trespassing laws.

The officers had a list of youths whom they had told would be cited if caught loitering in front of the building. Smith checked the list and found the names of two of the six who were sitting on the stoop. They were arrested, taken to the station, cited for trespassing and released.

The confrontation was just one of many contacts the officers have made with gang members since the violence two weeks ago.

The same evening, the team of officers cruised by known gang hangouts. At one apartment complex, a youth on the front step whistled when he spotted the white police cruiser a block away, and several youths scattered before the officers arrived.

The unit’s aggressive patrolling, said Matlock, helps restrict the movement of gang members. By casting such a wide net, the officers at least make it known that gang members are being watched, and officers may get lucky and stop someone before he takes action, Matlock said.

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The point is to stop the violence before it rises to a frenzy, he said.

“We’ve had this kind of thing before, but it’s more violent now,” he said. “And they are answering back immediately and very violently.”

Matlock said the more time that passes without a violent incident, the better.

“It gives them time to cool off,” he said. “But, of course, sometimes you have guys who are willing to wait, and you might get some type of revenge a month or two later. You really never know.”

Residents of the neighborhoods where Jimenez died and where Flores was shot say they are worried.

“I don’t think it’s over yet, that’s what I’m hearing out there,” said Vicky Gonzalez, who lives in La Colonia and is a member of the Neighborhood Council there.

In Ventura, Sharon Troll, who was shaken out of her sleep by the gunfire that cut down Flores, said she also fears that the retaliatory violence will continue.

“I certainly hope there’s no more violence, but you can feel the tension, and we know the gang mentality,” said Troll, who is a volunteer at the Westside police storefront and a member of the Westside Neighborhood Council’s safety committee.

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Despite their concern, Troll and Gonzalez said they feel reassured by police efforts to douse the simmering conflict.

“The response has been tremendous,” Gonzalez said. Since Jimenez’s stabbing, she said, “we’ve seen a lot more officers down here, but they can’t be on every street corner. They can’t be everywhere.”