Photo by Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff Fillmore 06/01/2007: Ventura County Sheriff's department West County gang unit look for an alleged gang member during a probation search in Fillmore. Part of the task for the new unit is to document gang members.

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The members of the Sheriff's Department's new gang unit ran single file down the El Rio alleyway on a March afternoon, and the dull thud of a battering ram announced their entry into a home. Inside they found a youth suspected of a gang-related stabbing.

Months later, the unit's four members drove their black and whites through Fillmore's streets and knocked on doors after a gang-related homicide sparked fears of violent retaliation in that city.

In the nearly four months since it was formed, the anti-gang unit has spent most of its time dropping in on known gang members, scanning dozens of police reports each day for gang-related crimes, and making arrests, said Capt. Ron Nelson, who oversees the force. The squad made 77 arrests between Feb. 27 and June 6.

Nelson said the unit's tactics are working, and the Sheriff's Department recently secured funding to expand the force.

Outside police circles, however, experts are divided over the approach to the complex problem of gang violence. Some say police often misidentify people as gang members.

Part of the unit's strategy during its first months was to increase focus on gang-related crimes that likely would have gotten lost in a sea of other offenses, Nelson said.

For example, the unit's raid in El Rio was one of a series that nabbed four juveniles suspected in a gang-related stabbing. They were still in a juvenile detention facility in early June.

"It sends a message to gang members that we take these things seriously," Nelson said.

When they are not investigating crimes, the unit's members check to see if gang members are misbehaving. They stop some on the street and visit others at home to see if they are complying with the terms of their probation and parole.

These checkups often lead to arrests, though rarely for gang-related crimes.

From May 4 to June 4, the unit arrested more than 20 people. The Sheriff's Department provided The Star with the names of 17 — those who are adults and not subjects of continuing investigations.

Most of them are suspected gang members but only two were arrested for allegedly committing gang-related crimes. Both of those are suspects in a May robbery in Fillmore.

The vast majority of the others were booked on suspicion of possessing or being under the influence of drugs, sometimes in conjunction with a parole violation.

Most of these 17 adults have been arrested numerous times in the past, and about a third have been convicted of violent crimes, according to Ventura County Superior Court Records.

Five of the 17 have been convicted of injuring their spouses or partners, but other acts of violence are scarce in their records. One of the five was also convicted of assault.

Two more were convicted of battery, and another two for disturbing the peace. One showed off a firearm and several felons were found with ammunition.

The majority of their court records were a laundry list of drug convictions and traffic infractions with a smattering of property crimes.

Some suspected gang members on probation are cited and released as often as often as once a week, said Detective Albert Ramirez, a member of the gang unit.

Nelson said these arrests make the county safer, even though many of those booked quickly return to the street.

"You can kind of manage your crime rate by ... warehousing those who are responsible," he said. "The more we can do to take people who are committing illegal acts off the street, the safer our summer is going to be."

The sample of criminal records is too small to be conclusive, but the convictions in them would not be unusual for gang members, said Ronald Huff, a professor of Criminology at the University of California, Irvine.

A lot of gang behavior is "exaggerated adolescent subculture," like drinking, brandishing weapons and bragging about misdeeds, said Huff, who has served as a consultant on gangs to the U.S. Department of Justice.

If deputies misidentify people as gang members, those individuals could be driven into gangs, Huff cautioned. But as long as gang members are labeled accurately, frequently checking up on them is a good thing, he said.

"You have to make them aware that you are paying attention," he said. "In the sense that they are letting these guys know they're watching them, I applaud that."

Lewis Yablonsky, a criminology professor at California State University, Northridge, said arresting people for drug offenses is fine, but he is skeptical about whether it will reduce gang crime.

Yablonsky, who has written three books on gangs and testified for the defense in hundreds of gang-related trials, said police often identify people as gang members or associates inappropriately. He argues that half the people called gang members or associates are really groupies, neighborhood residents or former gang members who don't participate in criminal activity.

"It's often guilt by association," he said.

Law enforcement officials estimate there are more than 5,300 gang members and associates in Ventura County. In 2006, the county's population was about 800,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Nelson says his deputies recognize gang members accurately, but it is hard to catch them in the act of committing violent or gang crimes. Therefore, deputies frequently arrest suspected gang members for whatever they can, Nelson said. Often that means nabbing them on drug charges.

Huff stressed that strong law enforcement must be paired with community involvement to really reduce gang activity.

"What most cities do when they start to recognize a gang problem is they get very heavily into suppression, they say let the police solve it," he said. "You can never arrest your way out of the problem."

Organizations such as the county's seven Boys and Girls clubs and El Concilio del Condado de Ventura have programs aimed at preventing youth violence, and Supervisor Kathy Long said she is advocating for federal dollars for a gang abatement effort. But local advocates, law enforcement officials and supervisors agree there aren't enough gang prevention services.

This month, Ventura County supervisors approved an additional $392,000 to add two more members to the gang unit in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. The county's probation agency, which has intervention programs along with law enforcement, got a budget increase of about $1 million this year.

Although Long said there aren't enough prevention programs, she thinks the county is on the right track.

"We have at least the table set right," she said.