L.A. gang attacks are becoming more violent in Petaluma

Dan Johnson:

Los Angeles gang members recently released from prison are contributing to a rise in the severity and number of gang-related attacks in Petaluma, said Sgt. Jim Stephenson, supervisor of the street crimes and gang-enforcement units for the Petaluma Police Department.

"We don't have a huge number of them here, but they're a lot more hard core than most gang members we've seen before," Stephen-son said.

After Petaluma experienced an epidemic of gang activity in the mid-'90s -- including shootings, beatings and death threats -- community-wide efforts helped to curb gang-related violence for several years.

But in 2003, several gang-related incidents occurred early in the year, and on May 31, 19-year-old Jorge Juan Basilio was knifed to death by a member of a rival gang. And in the past several months, the number of incidents has been escalating, attacks are often more random and severe and tagging has been found in a wider variety of locations.

"Gang activity can escalate very fast. It's important to deal with the issue before it becomes a problem that takes root," said Petaluma Police Chief Steve Hood, who supervised a gang task force and violence suppression unit during part of his 17 years of service as a corporal, detective, sergeant, lieutenant and SWAT commander for the Salinas Police Department. "Salinas had a fairly substantial gang problem, so I gained much of my experience there.

"Gang members are very transient, and tend to go to areas where there has been less gang enforcement. So, Petaluma has become a destination spot for some gang members in Sonoma County. More incidents have occurred as rivals of Petaluma gangs have come here."

Petaluma gangs now are more ethnically diverse and include younger members, Stephenson said.

"Gang activity dissipated for a long time, but enforcement is having to rise quite a bit throughout the county, including Petaluma," he said. "We're now finding gang members as young as 12 years old, and more random assaults, rather than just gang-on-gang incidents.

"Petaluma gangs aren't made up only of Hispanics -- they include African-Americans, Asians and members of other races. Some females belong to these gangs, but they are a small minority. Gang graffiti used to be found only in certain areas, but now it's turning up throughout the city."

Juvenile arrests for serious crimes jumped from 466 in 2004 to 500 in 2005. Also, the percentage of assaults leading to injuries increased by 52 percent, from 86 to 131, assaults jumped from 619 to 649 and felonies rose from 606 to 741, according to a recent report released by Petaluma police.

Most gang members in Sonoma County belong to rival gangs, the Sureños (southerners) and Norteños (northerners). The dividing line between them traditionally was Bakersfield, but when many Norteño leaders were in federal custody, Sureños started moving north. Large numbers of Sureños and Norteños reside in Santa Rosa, but Petaluma gang members generally are Sureños, and many belong to one of its subgroups, La Primera.

Dozens of subgroup gangs exist in Sonoma County, and a half-dozen groups are in Petaluma. Some 60 documented gang members live in Petaluma, and range in age from about 12 to 25, Stephenson said, adding that some have recently come here from Santa Rosa and other areas.

"Is there a problem? Sure, but we're getting on top of it," said City Manager Mike Bierman. "Gang activity is spreading throughout the county, but resources are down, so every place faces the problem of where to put them.

"I was the city manager in Fresno for several years, and we had a huge gang problem there. It's not nearly as great here, but it could spread."

Gangs use symbols on clothing, in graffiti and on school items, among other places. Gang graffiti often is distinguished from general tagging graffiti. Gang graffiti indicates a gang's territory, affiliation and members, among other things, and often reveals what is going on with the gang, whereas tagging graffiti often is used for gaining popularity with other non-gang members who tag.

Gang graffiti is often, but not always, a sign of gang involvement. Many youth express interest in gangs through graffiti well before they actually join a gang, so parents and other adults need to identify such actions early and take prompt action to stop youth from joining gangs.

Hand signals are commonly used by gangs, too.

"Gangs change them constantly, and sometimes new tagging indicates that a new subset gang has formed," said Jason Lechleiter, the full-time gang enforcement officer for the Petaluma Police Department.

Often, gang members are identifiable by the colors they wear. Norteños wear red, while Sureños don blue. When visiting Petaluma, Norteños sometimes pick out Sureños because they are wearing blue, and this often leads to a confrontation.

Sometimes, gang attacks are due to mistaken identity. This may have been the case in two Jan. 26 beatings, in which a young man suffered serious head injuries and had to be hospitalized, and two other men sustained minor injuries. None of the victims are gang members or have any gang affiliations.

"Recently, gang members have been more bold about assuming people are members of rival gangs," Stephenson said.

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