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Home > All News > 2009 News
Gang activity down, Oxnard police sayGang violence in Oxnard has dropped sharply since police officers and activists ramped up anti-gang efforts in response to a wave of bloodshed in January, authorities said. Gang investigators identified two gang assaults in March and three in April, compared with 11 — including three killings — in January, and one homicide and eight other assaults in February, Oxnard Police Cmdr. Scott Hebert said. Two gang assaults were reported in the first half of May. “March and April were below what we normally see,” said Hebert, who is responsible for the Oxnard Police Department’s Special Operations Division, which includes gang enforcement. Seven of the 11 gang assaults in January were shootings and four were stabbings. In February, two of the nine attacks were shootings, four were stabbings and three were fights, Hebert said. In March, one incident was a minor stabbing and one was a fight. In April, all three were fights, Hebert said. In two suspected gang assaults this month, a 15-year-old boy suffered minor injuries in a beating by two gang members, and a 23-year-old man was shot in the leg while washing his car, Police Sgt. Terry Burr said. While gang members often lay low after major incidents, and some gang assaults occur simply when gang members cross paths by chance, police say stepped-up enforcement efforts helped reduce the violence. “Our actions have played a big part in this,” Hebert said. Police poured into the Lemonwood neighborhood after Ramiro Huerta, 23, was shot to death Jan. 27 on El Dorado Avenue, just 10 days after Alfredo Vargas, 28, was fatally stabbed less than 300 yards away. Oxnard police deployed a Mobile Command Post and more than 25 officers to the area the day after Huerta’s killing. As many as 35 officers patrolled the area for almost a week, Hebert said. “It would have been very difficult for any gang member to be out and about and go unseen for more than 30 seconds,” Hebert said. Numerous community meetings were held in Lemonwood after Huerta’s killing, and volunteers from the Oxnard Police Clergy Council distributed fliers and went door to door calling for peace. Gang investigators kept tabs on influential gang members, and officers were pulled from their normal beats to look for gang activity in the area for several additional weeks, Hebert said. On the morning of Feb. 18, 165 law enforcement officers from 10 local and federal agencies served search warrants in Oxnard as part of the investigations of the killings on El Dorado, authorities said. Several guns were recovered, and two juveniles were arrested on probation violations, although no one was arrested for the homicides. Two teenagers were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a gang-related beating in February, but the rest of the cases from January and February remain under investigation, Burr said. Since January’s spike in bloodshed, Oxnard police have begun to get more tips about gang activity from community members, but months later, fear of retaliation is still hampering some investigations. Although most of the cases from January and February remain open, Oxnard police said the numerous search warrants served have kept gang members on their toes and guns off the street. “These guys have guns to go out and shoot people with them,” Hebert said. “That’s one less gun for them to use on someone else.” The department is still focusing on the Lemonwood area, Hebert said. Oxnard police are taking advantage of the lull in gang violence to tweak their tactics. Investigators are increasing their focus on drug dealing by gang members to disrupt the flow of money that finances gang activities and pays for guns. Police also are partnering with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to better analyze sources of guns used by criminals, he said. That partnership is part of the California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention initiative, or CalGrip. Oxnard police this year received a grant for almost $400,000 for gang violence prevention as part of that initiative. The Police Department plans to use about 90 percent of the CalGrip money for the Oxnard City Corps, an outreach specialist and mentoring through the Police Department’s Clergy Council — all to provide alternatives to gang membership, Hebert said. “Everybody’s working together trying to solve the problems at hand as well as looking at long-term solutions,” Hebert said. “We realize we’re not going to arrest our way out of the problem. We are going to enforce the law.” News Topics | Surenos | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People | Gallery | Blog | |