Westside task force targets gang crime

More than 120 law enforcement officers from a multi-agency task force swept through Culver City and other Westside communities Saturday in a one-day campaign designed to dent persistent gang crime by targeting repeat offenders and parole and probation violators.

Members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the FBI and the Los Angeles, Culver City, Inglewood and Santa Monica police departments deployed throughout several Westside neighborhoods.

“It’s a reminder to both the public and the criminals that we are doing our best to make the area safe,” said Sgt. Marc Reina of the LAPD’s Pacific Division Station, which served as the command center for the day. “Even if we don’t make any arrests, as long as we’re out there making a demonstration of force, then it’s a success.”

The campaign, part of the Western Regional Gang Task Force, aims to clean up notorious gathering spots for area gang members and drug activity.

A group of parole and probation officers, backed up by police, conducted surprise home inspections of residents on probation for violent or gang-related offenses. More than a dozen undercover officers were deployed throughout the target areas. Reina said they were used in a scouting “eyes and ears on the ground” role, rather than actively making drug buys.

Drug-sniffing dogs were on call for house and vehicle searches, and a specialized vehicle was deployed that scans the license plates of all surrounding cars -- searching for stolen vehicles or cars owned by crime suspects.

As of about 9 p.m., officers had made 14 arrests, all for outstanding felony warrants, and searched 30 locations. Near midnight, the campaign was to shift its focus to areas known as late-night hangouts for gang members, particularly Dockweiler State Beach, south of Venice Beach.

The task force conducted similar daylong campaigns in Inglewood and Santa Monica earlier this year and plans to be in a different area each month, said Lt. James Markloff, gang interdiction coordinator for the LAPD’s Western Bureau, which includes the Pacific Station.

Markloff said officers weren’t seeking specific suspects. The goal, he said, wasn’t necessarily a wave of arrests but a long-term reduction in the crime rate, particularly gang-related crimes.

“Our measure of effectiveness is not how many people we arrest. If you’re measuring your success only by arrest statistics, then you’re starting to sound too much like Operation Hammer,” Markloff said, referring to the late 1980s anti-gang campaign that drew criticism for harsh and excessive police tactics.

Part of the long-term solution, Markloff said, will come through the cross-agency bonds and contacts being formed among Westside gang specialists involved in the task force. “We’re going to break down the borders,” he said. “Gangs know no borders, so neither should we.”

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ashraf.khalil@latimes.com