It was nine hours into the anti-gang surge, and an empty wheelchair sat in the driveway.
"The guy in the wheelchair just took off running," said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Lorenzo Carrillo, standing over three tattooed teenagers, suspected gang members seated with their hands behind their backs while police checked their parole status. Just hanging out with one another could be a violation, Carrillo explained.
Although none of the three was arrested and the not-so-disabled man was never found, Carrillo, who directs the Santa Ana Police Department's gang suppression unit, said parole checks like those taking place this week in Santa Ana are key to restoring peace to the city's central neighborhoods.
In response to an escalation of violence -- including three shootings in a 24-hour period last month and an increase in arrests of gang members with guns -- Santa Ana police have launched a three-day operation targeting gang members and encouraging residents to report crime in a 2-square-mile area southwest of the Civic Center.
The operation began early Tuesday with 62 officers in patrol cars and on motorcycles, who saturated the neighborhood bounded by 1st Street, Edinger Avenue, Bristol Street and the Santa Ana River. Officers walked crime-heavy neighborhoods to talk to residents and urge them to call if they spotted trouble. Probation officers and parole and immigration agents also patrolled the neighborhood.
By late Wednesday authorities had arrested 38 on suspicion of a range of crimes, including probation and parole violations and outstanding warrants, weapons, vandalism and drug charges. Most are suspected gang members, and one was the brother of Councilwoman Michele Martinez.
The surge continues today.
Although crime in this city of 350,000 has fallen in recent years, the latest increase has centered in several neighborhoods of mobile home parks, apartments and single-family homes in the city's core, eliciting fears that those gains could be eroding.
Although aggravated assaults, which include shootings and stabbings, have gone down since last year, police said, homicides are up, with 18 so far this year compared with 11 by this time last year. More than half the killings were gang-related.
Councilman David Benavides, who represents the area, said the concentrated police presence falls in line with the city's strategy of focusing enforcement and community organizing on crime hot spots.
