EAST P.A. TROUBLES

GANG TURF WARS SPUR HOMOCIDES

Violence: Battle over control of drug trade fuels killings, officials say.

Escalating turf wars between gangs in East Palo Alto are making officials
nervous that violent crime could soar to its 1992 level, when the city was
believed to have the highest homicide rate in the country.

East Palo Alto Mayor R.B. Jones said he sees the same ``symptoms,'' that
led to the 1992 crime spike: ``I see the potential for a serious problem.
The things that led to the `murder capital of the USA' are happening now.''

Jones said young Latino and AfricanAmerican men are ``fighting for control
of the city.'' Police said gangs, often established on race or ethnic
lines, are not necessarily picking fights based on race, but rather over
who controls blocks where they want to deal drugs.

Even though police statistics show that crimes such as robbery and burglary
are down since that troubled year, a rising homicide rate and gang activity
have put residents and police on alert. The shooting death of a young woman
last week and a recent San Mateo County grand jury report suggesting the
city's police be absorbed by the county sheriff's department have put more
pressure on East Palo Alto to counter crime.

Gunfire common

Residents and police said they hear gunfire almost every night and see men
loitering in front of convenience stores and on certain corners, which they
believe are signs that drug dealing is increasing. Bullets often fly across
Sacramento Street in the late afternoon, residents said.

Sheriff's Lt. Larry Boss said there have been 15 homicides in 1997,
including nine people who died in an arson fire. If that fire were
considered one fatal homicide to avoid a statistical bulge, the homicide
rate would be 28 per 100,000 people; San Francisco's rate is six per
100,000, said Boss. There have been four homicides in the rest of San Mateo
County this year.

In 1992, police reported 42 people were slain in the city of 25,000 and
openair drug trafficking was common. (State crime officials later revised
the number of homicides to 39.)

A widespread regional effort to combat drugs and crime in East Palo Alto
succeeded in cutting the homicide rate in subsequent years. In 1996, when
there was only one homicide, city officials said they were proud that crime
had abated.

Reversal of trend

But now the trend seems to be turning around.

Dennis Scherzer, who heads a citizen crime watch group, Turnaround East
Palo Alto, also said crime, ``is approaching the stage it was at in 1991,''
the year before the homicide rate soared.

Scherzer said more men loiter on Sacramento Street, and at the
intersections of Clarke Street with Bay Road and Euclid Street with East
Bayshore Road. He believes this signals increasing drug sales.

Menlo Park Fire Protection District Division Chief Paul Young said a stray
bullet rammed through the University Avenue station door last week, hitting
a fire truck. The department has declared a ``heightened awareness'' of
crime, he said, but its policy of wearing bulletproof vests on calls in
dangerous neighborhoods is not new.

Police Chief Wesley Bowling said the city lacks funds to hire more police
to patrol this 2.2squaremile town that struggles with unemployment and
poverty in the heart of the cashrich Peninsula. There are 31 officers but
Bowling said he needs at least 41.

In 1992, there were 50 officers from various agencies working in East Palo
Alto and during one week when violence was severe, 70 officers patrolled
the city, said Lt. Rahn Sibley. Bowling said a community policing force
reported increasing gang activity one year ago but the force disbanded in
September because of staffing shortages.

Little action from residents

Scherzer, who frequently organizes protests in front of places where his
group believes drugs are sold, said East Palo Alto residents are annoyed
but little has been done to combat the problem: ``The community is in
denial that the problem is this bad. The police do not respond to the
complaints or they don't respond fast enough.''

Some residents are upset because they hear gunshots at night and see
vehicles riddled with bullet holes when they leave their homes to go to
work: ``We feel like our lives are at risk,'' said resident Samuel
Rasheed. ``How many people have to die before we realize public safety is
not working in this city?''

The civil grand jury report criticized the East Palo Alto police for its
mismanagement, lack of funds and brutal officers. Residents were reluctant
to call police for help, the panel said. It recommended a takeover by the
sheriff's department a suggestion that rankled city officials who
declared the report to be false.

The sheriff's department and the East Palo Alto police have clashed over
how to patrol the city for years. East Palo Alto officials do not want to
lose control of their police and the sheriff's department does not want to
keep throwing money into East Palo Alto, only to be criticized for usurping
local control. Jones sidestepped the county last week when he made appeals
to the cities of Oakland and San Francisco for policing help after the
grand jury report was issued.

Street sweep

In an effort to counter the growing turf war, 30 San Mateo County sheriff's
detectives, narcotics agents and probation officers arrested five people
Monday, including the suspect in the city's latest slaying and four reputed
members of the ``Sac Street gang,'' allegedly involved in a tug of war over
Sacramento Street drug dealing.

``Monday's operation is a demonstration of our commitment to help citizens
to be free from fear and to prevent a repeat of 1992 when East Palo Alto
was billed as the murder capital of the United States,'' said Sheriff Don
Horsley. ``We're sending a message to people involved in crime in East Palo
Alto that we're going to stomp it out.''

In Monday's sweep, a 15yearold was booked on suspicion of murder in a
Dec. 7 carchase shooting that killed Tiombe Sevier, 24, of Menlo Park, and
wounded Perry Conley, 25, of

Sunnyvale. The teen and another minor were also arrested on suspicion of
possession of two pounds of crack cocaine.

Sheriff's officers also made several other drugrelated arrests and more
arrests are probable, Boss said.

But the sheriff's department believes East Palo Alto must do more to ensure
dramatic change: ``It doesn't matter who does it but you need a strong
professional police presence in East Palo Alto to stop this. Certainly, the
police department that is there right now is not doing it,'' Boss said.

Bowling declined to respond to the criticism. But he said he wants to hire
seven officers and bring in help from several other nearby law enforcement
agencies.

``We need a regional effort to get this under control,'' Bowling said.

Jones, who said he fears the police department is losing its grip on the
problem, will meet with Bowling this week and expects to propose a crime
control plan within two weeks.

``Obviously we do not have enough people to respond to the particular needs
of the citizens,'' Jones said. ``We're seeing some things that are causing
me a lot of anxiety. We have to do something.''

Mercury News Staff Writer Alan Gathright contributed to this report.