Slaying Revives Debate Over How to Curb Gangs

The Placentia council chambers grew silent as the grieving mother made her way to the podium to make her plea.

“I am asking the council to make gang violence and murder your No. 1 priority,” Claudia Seelke said as she quietly recalled the death of her 20-year-old daughter, who was killed in a gang shooting at a local New Year’s Eve party. “Somehow, we must reach out to those young men and women who are gang members.”

For years, the city has sought to fight its small but stubborn problem of gang activity by focusing its efforts on prevention: pouring thousands into after-school programs, park improvements and recreational programs intended to provide youths with alternatives to gangs.

But the New Year’s Eve slaying is forcing the city’s elected leaders and law enforcement officials to rethink this approach, and it has revived the debate over the best way to combat gang violence. Currently, the city spends no money on programs that would target the city’s more than 400 gang members and steer them in a new direction.

“Our city has fallen significantly behind other cities with similar gang problems,” said Placentia Councilwoman Maria Moreno, who said she was moved by Seelke’s plea, and has since vowed to work to rehabilitate gang members. “Unless we introduce gang intervention programs with substance--working directly with gang members, their families and the community--gang violence will only continue to escalate.”

Moreno said this month she will introduce into the city a nonprofit, anti-gang program called La Familia. Established by the California Hispanic Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, La Familia is a multi-service intervention program that aims to turn gang members around.

Some Placentia residents, especially those who live in the neighborhoods most affected by gang activity, say the latest attempt is long overdue.

“It’s unfortunate that it takes a killing like this to make the city face its gang problem,” said longtime resident Margarita Duncan.

Placentia police say their understaffed force lacks the resources to keep statistics on gang-related crime. But Placentia Det. Thomas Valentine, one of the two officers who staff the city’s gang unit, said gang activity is undoubtedly on the rise.

“When I first started at the Police Department in 1988, Placentia was described as a bedroom community, and for the most part, it is a pleasant place to live,” Valentine said. “But we [now] have a higher incidence of violence in the south side of the city,” where gang members congregate.

In an effort to better deal with gang crime, Placentia police are considering joining the North Orange County Gang Task Force--comprising neighboring Fullerton, La Habra and Buena Park--as soon as staffing permits. The task force takes a regionalized approach to gang crime that supporters say helps them better crack down on gang members who travel throughout the area.

The city is also considering a local version of the popular law enforcement program called TARGET, for Tri-Agency Resources Gang Enforcement Team, currently operating in cities across Orange County, including Anaheim, Buena Park, Santa Ana and Westminster.

The program coordinates police, probation officers and prosecutors to focus on hard-core gang members and arrest them for any crime, large or small, to get them off city streets. TARGET has been credited in part with reducing gang activity in Orange County by 10% since 1994, according to a study by UCI researchers.

Placentia Mayor Constance Underhill said she believes the most effective way to spend the city’s money is to continue to fight gang violence by working to discourage youths from ever getting involved.

“It’s a lifestyle, and that’s what we’re trying to break,” Underhill said. “We want to give kids alternative activities so that they’re not involved in gangs.”

On average, the city spends $60,000 a year on after-school and summer programs at community centers in Placentia, said City Recreation and Human Services Director Steve Pischel. Pischel said that existing community centers such as the Whitten Community Center, the Gomez Center in Atwood and the Placentia Boys & Girls Club also plan to expand their tutoring, sports and arts and crafts programs for all youths, especially “at risk” youths.

Moreno said more needs to be done to target youths already involved in gangs.

“The major flaw in this approach is that there’s no mention of working directly with gang members,” Moreno said.

James Hernandez, the executive director of La Familia, agrees. “These recreational programs, for the most part, don’t work,” Hernandez said. “Sometimes it will only serve as entertainment for hoodlums.”

Hernandez said communities need programs like La Familia, which he said is designed to educate gang members and to instill a positive identity outside of gang life.

Some admitted gang members question whether it will work. They are eager to take advantage of any recreational programs the city has to offer, such as handball or mural projects.

“Instead of standing around on the streets and being the target for rival gangs and cops, we could be doing something else,” said one self-described gang member, a 19-year-old who was hanging out on Santa Fe Avenue on a recent night. But the teen said he couldn’t think of anything the city could do to cut his gang ties.

That is the attitude that Seelke said she hopes to fight.

Seelke said her daughter, Judah, was not a gang member but was at a New Year’s Eve party on Vincente Avenue when gang violence erupted about 11 p.m. The young woman was shot once in the head.

Judah Seelke was buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana Jan. 6, the same day about 200 police officers raided 21 homes across north Orange County and arrested nine suspected gang members who authorities believe may have been involved in the slaying. They are scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 19.

Seelke said she is relying on her Christian faith to help her forgive her daughter’s assailants. She appeared before the City Council late last month as part of her effort to end such violence.

“We can’t sit in our living rooms, close our eyes and pretend the gangs will go away,” Seelke said. “We have to go to these gang members and tell them there is another way to live. My daughter doesn’t have that chance, but we can offer alternatives to those young people who feel lost.”