In what officials are calling a first for the LAPD, detectives on Tuesday said they got a crucial and immediate break in a slaying case by using a Global Positioning Satellite system that was tracking the movements of gang members.
As part of a new state crackdown on gangs, authorities last month placed GPS monitoring bracelets on 20 gang members as a condition of their parole from prison.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, December 13, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 36 words Type of Material: Correction
Gangs: An article in Wednesday's California section about Los Angeles police using electronic ankle bracelets to track the movement of gang members identified a gang as the Black P-Stones Crips. It is the Black P-Stones Bloods.
The bracelets keep a running log of where the 20 gangs members are -- and include time-stamped mapping.
Detectives said the system paid off Monday night when Nelly Vergara Hernandez, 20, was fatally shot in a Mid-City neighborhood known for gang activity.
As soon the radio call went out reporting the drive-by shooting at Venice Boulevard and Wilton Place, Sgt. Ruby Malachi had an idea.
Malachi, who runs the LAPD's crime analysis center below City Hall East, directed her officers to punch in the date, time and location into the computer tracking the movements of the 20 gang members.
She noticed that one of the gang members was at the Wilton Place address when the shooting occurred.
At the scene, witnesses said they saw seven people in a black sport utility vehicle from which the shots were fired. A police helicopter tracked the gang member's GPS trail to Compton, where he was in a black SUV.
The SUV parked at a home in Compton, and seven men got out. Police set up surveillance of the house and eventually arrested seven suspects including the MS-13 gang member being tracked, John Garcia, 20, police said.
The other arrested are Juan Carlos Gutierrez, 31; Israel Flores, 20; Milcar Valencia Romero, 21; Jesse Anthony Castro, 20 and two juveniles aged 16 and 17. All were booked on suspicion of murder, though officials have not said which one they believe fired the fatal shot.
Until now, the department has used the GPS system mainly to track the movements of high-risk sex offenders on parole from prison. About 50 such offenders are now being tracked, and the LAPD plans to add an additional 500 convicted sex offenders in July.
LAPD officials said they would now like to extend the gang GPS program, targeting gang parolees who either live in areas with large numbers of shootings or are in particularly violent gangs.
