Ventura Police Get Tough on Hate Crimes

Concerned about growing membership in white supremacist gangs and the extent of their criminal activity, Ventura police are stepping up efforts to better track and prosecute skinhead gang members.

Armed with a $1.5-million state grant awarded to the city last summer, authorities have assigned a detective to work full time with a county prosecutor to target white supremacist crimes.

Of the 50 local gang-related cases handled by the district attorney in the last six months, two dozen involved skinheads prosecuted for crimes ranging from possession of drugs and firearms to assault and battery, authorities said. Of these cases, eight involved hate crimes.

“We are seeing more crimes being committed by white supremacists,” said Det. Glen M. Young, the Ventura Police Department’s chief investigator on such crimes. “They are more violent and more aggressive.”

Although Ojai, Camarillo and Thousand Oaks have their share of skinheads, authorities say Ventura is where most of the county’s racist gang members are concentrated.

Using numbers compiled from crime reports, Ventura police estimate roughly 150 skinheads are active in the city--more than doubling in the past two years.

The only type of gang membership growing is among skinheads, said Officer Ken Corney, who heads the department’s Special Enforcement Team. Ventura has four or five skinhead gangs, authorities said.

To better track their activity, police are now more careful about classifying crimes by gang affiliation.

Most disturbing to authorities is the increasing frequency of hate crimes committed by skinheads in recent years, authorities said.

Indeed, the number of such crimes more than doubled between 1996 and 1997, from 10 to 21. And although three fewer crimes occurred last year, two hate crimes have already been reported this year.

“When someone brings me two hate crimes in a week, we have a problem. The city has a problem,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Rafelson, who works with Young on white supremacist cases.

By comparison, the number of hate crimes reported in the unincorporated areas and five cities covered by the Sheriff’s Department dropped from 19 in 1997 to 16 in 1998, most incidents occurring in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo. Statistics were not immediately available for the self-policed cities of Simi Valley, Santa Paula, Port Hueneme and Oxnard.

“The problem with hate crimes is that they are hard to define,” said Sheriff Bob Brooks. “Sure we have crimes that are motivated by hate, but they are hard to rank statistically. Do we have a lot of statistics on hate crimes? No, we don’t. But is it a motivator for major crimes? We know it is.”

Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren and Deputy Dist. Atty. Chrystina Jenson, who handles juvenile cases, said a group of fewer than 10 skinheads is responsible for most hate crimes in the county.

They said most of the county’s dangerous skinheads have been locked away and that the skinheads coming through juvenile court these days, for the most part, are wannabes.

“We have had a county cleansing,” Perren said.

But the problem persists in Ventura.

“For every one we put away, it seems like there is a new one ready to come up and take his place,” Rafelson said.

In Ventura, most hate crimes are committed by juveniles against other youths. Here is a look at a few of those committed in the last six months:

* A developmentally disabled man in his early 20s was beaten with skateboards by three gang members because he is gay.

* Two skinheads taunted and then attacked a young white man because he was hanging out with a black friend.

* And, in an especially disturbing case, four skinheads attacked a Latino couple and a black couple from Rio Mesa High School returning from a homecoming date. Singing, and then shouting racial epithets, the skinheads followed the two couples and threw a brick at the head of the black boy. When the students tried to drive away, the skinheads kicked the car and beat it with a baseball bat, causing $2,000 in damage.

“What was really sad was when these kids came into my office and described what happened,” said Rafelson. “I’m listening to their story and I’m going to cry. They said homecoming was supposed to be something you look back on as a special memory. . . . It [the incident] was completely senseless--for no reason other than their race.”

Recently, three juvenile skinhead gang members went after a black youth in east Ventura, yelling racial epithets and threatening to hit him with a rock before help arrived.

And on Feb. 6, two young men walked into a fast-food restaurant in midtown Ventura, yelling “white power” and “crazy white boys,” police said. An African American woman testified at a preliminary hearing last week that one of them yelled racial slurs at her, grabbed her purse and pushed her. When another customer intervened, the purse snatcher allegedly pulled a knife and tried to stab the good Samaritan, police said.

That defendant will stand trial on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, and the other will face a felony hate-crime charge.

Typically, skinheads range in age from 13 to early 20s, police said. Young men shave their heads and often cover their bodies with tattoos of swastikas and iron crosses.

Authorities say most skinheads come from single-parent homes where there is no role model. Some have parents with racist beliefs. Some tell police they join the gangs for protection against Latino gangs. Some learn their attitudes from television. And some just hook up with friends and assume their racist philosophies, whether they agree with them or not.

“They don’t seem like white supremacists, but pretty soon you see notebooks with W.P. (White Pride) and swastikas” written across them, Young said.

Young and Rafelson said local skinheads don’t appear to have any direct links to larger national white supremacist organizations such as The Order, Aryan Nation, the Ku Klux Klan or the American Nazi Party. Nor, they said, do they appear to have any connection to larger Southern California gangs.

Perren, the judge, points out that the court cannot prosecute people for what they think. But he takes extra time in his courtroom to talk to young people who apparently embrace racist ideologies.

One day recently, a 15-year-old from Thousand Oaks was in Perren’s court for drug possession. When police officers had searched his room, they found a series of graphic sketches of Nazi-type officers engaged in gory hate crimes against various minorities.

“It will not do me a bit of good to lecture you,” Perren told the teenager, who sat sullen, appearing not to listen. “Racist views have caused countless deaths throughout history. Everything you think as evidenced by the drawings you draw . . . all those hateful acts are despicable in a free society. Why you wish to believe them, I don’t know. But I cannot legislate the way you think. I am prosecuting for drugs and weapons. Your mindless bigotry is something that will torment you and your parents for the rest of your life.”

Law enforcement officials and prosecutors say they will continue to crack down on skinhead crimes.

“The gist of this court is, we can’t change the way they think,” prosecutor Jenson said. “We can’t violate their 1st Amendment rights. But when it edges over into action, we will hammer them as hard as we can.”