GANG CRIME RATE DROPS

Watsonville: Police chief's report prompts city council to abandon talk of
a civil injunction.

Gang-related crime has been steadily declining in Watsonville, city
officials learned this week, prompting them to abandon consideration of
civil injunctions against gang members.

``Gang crime in 1997 was down 27 percent in Watsonville'' when compared
with the previous year, Watsonville Police Chief Terry Medina told the city
council this week.

Medina said the city's approach to curbing gang violence -- from youth
athletic and computer-training programs to multi-agency cooperation -- is
gaining headway. Such progress, he said, shows the city doesn't need
drastic measures such as a civil court injunction, which could include
preventing known gang members from congregating in public.

The city council voted unanimously not to pursue an injunction.

``A gang injunction might be good somewhere else, but at this time it's
inappropriate in Watsonville,'' said Councilwoman Betty Bobeda.

The total number of gang-related crimes -- everything from disturbing the
peace, witness intimidation, drive-by shootings, and arson to burglaries,
assaults and murder -- has declined almost steadily since 1993, the first
year the Watsonville Police Department began tracking data. There were 182
gang-related crimes in 1993, 103 the following year, 96 in 1995, 102 in
1996, 75 in 1997, and 80 last year.

Violent crimes such as murder, assaults and shootings dropped 18 percent
from 1996 to 1997, police statistics show. There were three gang-related
homicides in Watsonville in 1996; there were none in 1997 or 1998.

Gang members were responsible for 124 violent crimes in 1993, 63 in 1997,
and 73 in 1998.

But property crimes related to gang activity, such as graffiti vandalism,
showed the biggest drop, plummeting by 53 percent in 1997 over 1996.

A police department tally about six months ago shows Watsonville, a city of
about 37,000, has 230 gang members, and another 298 gang associates,
according to a police department administrative analyst. Although the
department doesn't have numbers before that, Sgt. Eddie Rodriguez,
supervisor of the gang violence suppression unit, said gang membership is
declining.

``We're at a point right now where we're seeing a decrease,'' he said.
``There have been some programs in place (for a while) and new ones going
out, and we're starting to show some progress.''

Over the past seven years, the city's police, parks and recreation
departments have been working together to establish a variety of programs
that provide youngsters with positive alternatives to joining gangs. One is
the city's downtown youth center, which opened in 1995 and serves an
average of 125 kids daily.

Others include a late-night sports program for at-risk youth, and job and
computer training through the youth services program. The city also
recently began a Police Athletics Program.

Another effective tool, police said, has been the ``broad-based
apprehension, suppression, treatment alternatives'' or BASTA, grants to
combat gang activity the city has received annually for the past seven
years from the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning. Those funds allow
the police department to work with other agencies.

``That brings together the police department, the probation department, the
school district, the city's recreation district, the district attorney's
office, the sheriff's office and Fenix (drug and alcohol treatment
services),'' Medina said. ``So we provide the spectrum of counseling,
education, law enforcement, prosecution, job placement and parental
intervention on a continual basis.''

Those efforts will continue, he said.

``Our risk factors, the number of young men in high crime years, remains
high,'' Medina said. ``We need to maintain our vigilance and continue (to
do) the things we're doing.''

Council discussion of gang intervention this week was prompted by a
citizen's request that they consider civil injunctions. Stan O'Hoppe, who
ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the city council last November on a
law-and-order platform, had asked the city several times to explore the issue.

An overflow crowd filled the council chambers for the discussion, and
dozens of residents, including many teenagers, urged the council not to
invoke an injunction.

``I have serious doubts to the effectiveness of injunctions,'' said Manuel
Perez, director of the Alto Counseling Center. ``There is no credible
evidence to show success of this strategy.''