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Santa Paula-Fillmore program merges policing, counseling to stop gang violence
Reaching kids
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Photos by Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff Santa Paula Police Officer Richie Mendez arrests two 15-year-old boys suspected of being in violation of their probation for associating with gang members.
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More from County NewsIn the battle to end gang violence, police strategies often differ from those espoused by social activists.
Locally and nationwide, many communities turn first to aggressive policing to reduce gang violence, even though many academics and activists say addressing the social problems that lead to violence is the only effective way to reduce bloodshed.
In Ventura County, one small interagency program has found modest success in merging the two approaches.
Rolled out in 2002, the Gang Violence Prevention Program uses intense police supervision and counseling to help young offenders in Santa Paula and Fillmore turn their lives around.
A $236,482 grant from the California Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds the program. It focuses resources on 40 to 60 youths, mostly teenagers who have been involved in gang activity.
The small caseload and tight coordination among the Santa Paula Police Department, Ventura County Probation Agency and a drug counselor make it easier for program staff to build relationships with young offenders and keep them on track, agency officials said.
Santa Paula Police Officer Richie Mendez and Probation Officer Tony Machuca meet with their clients at least once a week. That's much more than the average in a county where probation officers routinely keep track of more than 100 people.
The officers continually shift their hours and sometimes show up unannounced at 6 a.m. at clients' homes.
"We like to keep them guessing," Mendez said.
Mendez knows just about everybody on the Santa Paula streets. Local kids wave to him as he drives around in his unmarked Ford Crown Victoria.
"We know we're not going to save everybody, but we try to show them there is more to life than the gang," Mendez said.
He and Machuca also take their message to middle schools in Santa Paula and Fillmore several times a year.
The counseling side
Tracy Opp, a counselor for the Camarillo-based nonprofit Palmer Drug Abuse Program, sees many of the program's juvenile offenders two to three times a week.
In addition to helping them kick their drug habits, Opp drives them to appointments, organizes classes on topics including healthy relationships and victim awareness, and spends time talking to their siblings.
When they are doing well, she occasionally takes them fishing or hiking.
"These kids are stunted ... in life," Opp said. "I get to the bottom of what is going on and not just assume these kids are bad kids."
Before she was put on the Gang Violence Protection Program's caseload, Sierra DeSoto was hanging around with gang members, smoking marijuana and bouncing in and out of juvenile hall, she said.
She spent time in group homes in Palmdale and Los Angeles as a teenager.
DeSoto was put in the anti-gang program after she was booted from an addiction program.
On her first day, DeSoto was arrested for being under the influence.
But eventually, Machuca changed DeSoto's ideas about law enforcement. Unlike her previous probation officer, Machuca had time to help her.
"He was always a nice guy. He would really tell it like it is," she said.
DeSoto and her boyfriend both left probation behind after being involved in the program.
Now 20 and a mother of three, DeSoto is a waitress at a local restaurant and hasn't done drugs for 2 1/2 years, she said.
Probation officials single her out as an example of the program's success at intervention.
Yields mixed results
About 81 percent of those involved in the program were either employed or in school during the 2005-06 fiscal year, said Patricia Olivares, juvenile services manager for the Probation Agency.
"To me, that is tremendous," said Olivares, who used to supervise the program.
Employment is a key factor in separating the kids from gangs, and jobs are hard to come by in Santa Paula, she said.
In 2005-06, 12.9 percent of youths in their first six months in the program paid court-ordered restitution to their victims, compared with only 4.17 percent of similar offenders in a control group of youths on probation.
They also stayed out of trouble, on average, six days longer than the control group youths.
But they also were arrested and incarcerated more often than the control group, according to data from the Probation Agency.
Olivares said this is because youths in the program are under much tighter supervision and are more likely to be caught if they mess up. She said it also takes more than six months for kids to "get with the program."
Buddy Escoto, director of program services for the Boys & Girls Club of the Santa Clara Valley, said he has noticed a positive change in the years since the program began.
"There is less violence and less fear," Escoto said.
Combination of resources
Cheryl Maxson, a professor at UC Irvine who has written extensively about gangs, believes the program still sounds tilted toward the law-enforcement approach.
A child greets Santa Paula Police Officer Richie Mendez, who stopped to check in on a 15-year-old juvenile at a residence in Santa Paula. Mendez knows just about everybody on Santa Paula's streets.
Dealing with the root social causes of gang violence is more effective than trying to fight it after the fact, she said.
"You basically have to look at putting someone in jail or putting someone in prison as a failure of the plan," Maxson said.
"It's important that law enforcement be at the table. ... I just wouldn't choose to have them dominate the discourse and soak up the vast majority of the resources."
Capt. Ron Nelson, who is responsible for the Sheriff's Department West County Gang Unit, agreed law enforcement needs to work in concert with social services. But he defended arrests and incarceration as important tools in the fight against violence.
"It doesn't really do anything to solve the suspect's problems, but what it does is give relief to those who want to live a law-abiding life," he said.
'Not reaching enough kids'
Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis argued for a mix of policing and prevention. When police can make the streets safer, they reduce the likelihood that young people will join gangs for protection.
But the county does not have the communitywide programs needed to provide young people with positive mentors so they don't join gangs, he said.
A few organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Clubs and the YMCA, provide mentoring, but most intervention activities are happening only on a small scale.
"There are some efforts, but we are obviously not reaching enough kids," Weis said.
Posted by OxnardNative on July 30, 2007 at 6:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wanna put an end to a majority of the issues with today's youth? Focus first on the parents, they are typically where the root of the problem exists. Bring the positive relationship between parents and their children back together and see what happens. Too many parents are too separated from their children these days and these kids find the love they are looking for through their peers who are typically in gangs. Gangs give kids what they are missing from their parents. It's a sad reality of today’s society. Parents are supposed to be kid’s biggest influence but without doing what parents signed up for all the way through the child’s younger years and into adulthood, they will soon fade away with even less hope of recovery.
Posted by diamondshines4you on July 30, 2007 at 6:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oxnard so you say that gans give kids what they are missing from their parents. Well I don't think much parents want to give their kids drugs and alcohol and gun's etc. I think that parents really need to have a good heart 2 heart talk with their children. These children need to learn early and taken to places where they can get a good look at what happens when bad things happen. They need to see the prisons, jails, and even the LA county morgue. this may be wakeup call for them. People need to report gang activity and not let it go by.
Posted by AnnaWhaat on July 30, 2007 at 7:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
diamondshines4you, I agree in a big part with your comment. A good heart to heart talk, put the fear of jail ,prison or even death into them. As harsh as this sounds .Let them know what can happen when they join a gang. We DO need more mentors out there. And I know if we looked around we probably could find them.
I personally know Buddy Escoto and he did put a big impact on my childs life. Thankyou Buddy !
To Ms. DeSoto, I congratulate you on being clean. You and your boyfriend. May you prosper in life in many ways.
A big percentage may be the parents, BUT there is also a large percentage that its not the parents fault. The world today is just not the same as it was back in the 60's. Times have changed. Its hard for anyone in school to find a good friend that does not to some sort of illegal activity,WhY is that? We are not reaching out enough to the children in Schools. It would be great to have more mentors in schools. We need to stand up now ! Make a difference in our childrens life before its too late.
Posted by senorbriar on July 30, 2007 at 8:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is a great program and very innovative. It is accountability focused with employment and counseling resources. Do you think programs like this exist in L.A. county? Its real easy for some researcher to sit there on his or/her duff saying the program is to "law enforcement" oriented. Well Professor donkey... gang members are criminials and do need to be held accountable to the law, when appropriate. Excellent work Mr. Tony Machuca and others!!
Posted by mochachip81 on July 30, 2007 at 4:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This program is lacking several key aspects to truly address the gang program. Social services beyond drug counseling are a must if these youth are going to be helped. Youth and their families need case management, therapy, communites need to create programs to keep these kids busy throughout the summer, school breaks, and into the evening.Parents need jobs and support in keeping their kids off the street. The strong police presence Santa Paula and Fillmore are proposing shows a lack of research into best practices-police often lack the rapport and empathy needed to reach out to kids. Policing should be a part of the approach, but social workers, clergy members, school counselors and community activists need to be the leaders in a gang prevention and intervention program. Police presence and suppression of gang activity is not the entire solution. A multi-pronged approach, such as the one implemented in Boston, is critical in reaching out to these at-risk youths.
Posted by AnnaWhaat on July 31, 2007 at 10:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
OxnardResident, I do agree with that comment. We do need responsible parents. And I agree a Father has just as big of a roll in the childs life and the Mother does. But if the parents aren't teaching that at home then why cant we guide them a bit in school?
Posted by mochachip81 on July 31, 2007 at 11:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oxnard resident, you sound like you are speaking from an ivory tower and are looking through a very superficial lens. Yes parents need to be responsible for their children. However, you need to look at society and all that it lacks and how that contributes to the problem. Parents have to work long hours to support their familes which leaves less time to watch their kids and be with them, Schools are not preparing youth for a responsible, productive future, communities with limited resources to reach out to the youth who are at risk, and citizens who refuse to accept that the problem is more than individual failure.
Posted by mochachip81 on August 3, 2007 at 12:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oxnard Resident, I suggest you do some real research into why youth join gangs and evidenced based programs to counter those reasons. There are far more complex reasons for joining gangs than absent families and the solutions are equally complex. Do some research; your arguement is almost amusing given the amount of resarch, academic, others have done. I suggest looking at the Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative, the Boston Cease Fire program, or the work of Dr. Jorja Leap (with whom I worked while in graduate school).
Posted by AnnaWhaat on August 5, 2007 at 7:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
OxnardResident , I agree with you on raising your child with the issue of abstitance. BUT being married to a wonderful man who was raised by only his Mother. He is the BEST dad in the world !!!!!!! It would have been great if he had ,had both......but things don't always work out that way. But all in all your comment was very good. ALTHOUGH your second comment which I just read. I have to disagree. Parents can not be held 100% liable for everything thier kid does. You teach them morals and values, you do the best you can and then something goes wrong. WHY must we blame the parents for this? I know many many great parents who have done all they could for thier kids and yet one went astray. And honestly if my child was to disrespect me in that way of my morals I wouldn't do thier community service with them ect. They could put my butt in jail !! I think that would effect my child alot more! Of course you have to be a very strong parent to take that action. And I am not sure what you mean by mixed blended families. Is that meaning one race shouldn't marry another? Cause if that is what you meant, and Im not sure you did. I disagree! Also when we first had our first child ,after being married over an year and half. We really didn't know if we were ready financially...... But it all just works out. We made it just fine.
Posted by FlavioRamos805 on August 30, 2007 at 6:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
WE NEED MORE SOCIAL PROGRAMS IN VENTURA COUNTY AND LESS CRIMINALIZATION OF OUR YOUTH!! For the last 30 years or so, police suppression has only made the problem worse. We shouldn’t blame youth for the social conditions they didn’t not create. The roots of violence are to be found in the expanding reach of poverty, racism, inadequate housing and education, unemployment, and other indices of human suffering. A violence and fractured society will produce violent and lost children.
I strongly believe incarceration is modern day slavery. Did you know that they have built over 23 new prisons in California and only 1 new university (UC Merced) in the last 20 years?! Why do you think that is? Under the 13th Amendment of the Constitution this country can still have slaves once someone is a prisoner. So it makes sense to build as many prisons in California.
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