Local Hate Groups--Violent and Unpredictable

Dogs, rats, Aryan army. It’s worse than it sounds.

These are the monikers of the three white supremacy groups identified in Ventura County and, despite a new millennium and more diversity than ever in homes and workplaces, hatred still exists here.

The issue screamed for attention last week after cops announced that they had busted six people linked to a white supremacy gang for the 1998 fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old Ventura girl.

The suspects are linked to the Skin Head Dogs, a gang formed in 1988 that has 45 active members in Ventura, Ojai and Oak View, police said. It is considered the largest such gang in the county.

Also located in Ventura are the Pierpont Rats, a gang formed about a decade ago that has slightly fewer members than the Dogs. Lastly, the Ventura Aryan Army is a loose group formed two years ago that has about 30 members.

“There are different groups, but they have relatively the same philosophy, and that is supposedly a mission or goal to advance the white race,” Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt. Steve Giles said.

Although there are small cells of members in every city in the county, the largest concentration lives in Ventura and the Ojai Valley, cops say. The crimes they commit most are tagging and assault. Members frequently verbally harass people on the street, authorities say.

“We have more problems with our other types of gangs than we do with these guys,” Ventura Police Officer Jim Brittle said. “But they tend to be as violent as other gangs and very unpredictable.”

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Did you know that there is outdoor lighting available that won’t burst if it’s struck with a .22-caliber bullet?

That and other handy facts for landlords will be available at a seminar by the Oxnard Police Department scheduled Sept. 9 at the local library.

The point of the two-hour class is to teach property managers how to handle unruly tenants, visitors and passersby.

“If you’ve had problems, you probably ought to go,” said Oxnard Police Senior Officer Scott Swenson, a speaker at the seminar. “We end up showing them things, aspects of prevention, they may never have thought of.”

Following years of problems at local apartment complexes, Swenson said, the seminar was created to help landlords learn how to screen prospective renters, document problems and establish rules.

Students also learn some interesting ways to spot and stop illegal activity.

For example, if a renter has a lot of visitors at all hours of the day and night and the resident rarely seems to sleep, those may be clues of drug use and sales there. If a landlord is called to fix a problem inside a unit and sees an electrical cord snaking into a closet, the tenant could be using a light to grow pot.

Swenson suggests that landlords keep bushes in front of their properties short and thinned out so criminals don’t have a place to hide while running from the law. And lattices and creeping figs placed on the sides of buildings lessen the likelihood of graffiti.

Enclosed garages with locks are better than open carports, which can be an invitation for auto burglars.

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Here’s a new twist on the phrase “buyer beware.”

There has been a rash of purse thefts in Ventura during the last month or so, and police are urging people who carry any type of handbag to keep it close by and never leave it in a shopping cart or anywhere else unattended.

So far, there have been 12 reports of such accessories being stolen at grocery stores, a major bookstore chain, a discount clothing store and one at a playground area inside a shopping mall, Ventura Police Cpl. John Snowling said.

“We want to give people a heads-up not to let these crooks have easy access,” Snowling said. “People need to keep their purses on their person.”

A majority of the thefts have occurred between noon and 6 p.m. when many people are out shopping, and at least half of the victims have been women of retirement age, which could mean that the thieves are preying on older victims, Snowling said.

None of the victims has spotted a thief, and in only one case was the purse recovered--but, alas, the wallet was missing.

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Holly J. Wolcott can be reached at 653-7581 or at holly.wolcott@latimes.com.