Oxnard Police Bolster Gang Patrol : Law enforcement: Street Crimes Unit receives two more permanent officers after three recent killings.

OXNARD — The Police Department has made gang enforcement a permanent priority.

Beginning Saturday, two additional officers will be assigned to the Street Crimes Unit--enabling it to put the squeeze on gang violence whenever needed.

The unit was previously staffed by five permanent officers, which was not enough to perform gang patrols, unit director Sgt. Dan Christian said.

“To make an impression on gang members, we need at least seven officers,” Christian said.

Last spring, the unit, which ordinarily concentrates its energies in surveillance on many types of crimes, was loaned two extra officers and began working gang patrols after a spate of gang-related slayings.

They worked the streets looking for suspected gang members, who were interviewed, photographed, and cited or arrested in an effort to get them off the streets.

“If necessary, they enforce the letter of the law to make gang members aware that the climate of fear they are creating is not acceptable,” Assistant Chief Stan Myers said.

Although gang-related violence dropped dramatically, the gang patrol was essentially deactivated after 15 weeks as public interest and funding faded. The two extra officers were returned to patrol.

But after three gang-related killings during a two-week period in October, the Street Crimes Unit again received two officers on loan and was instructed to focus on gang violence.

In six weeks, the unit arrested 161 gang members on a variety of felonies and misdemeanors.

This week, the two temporary officers became permanent.

“We are still the Street Crimes Unit, but now we have a dual mission,” Christian said. “Combatting gang violence is now a permanent focus.”

Beat officers said the gang unit makes a big difference on the streets.

“I don’t see gang members loitering around schools and alleys or wandering around town in large groups like they used to,” Officer Chris Orsini said. “I have more time now to work on problems other than gang fights and shootings.”

Residents are split over the gang unit. Some see the hard-driven squad as a necessary reality. Others insist they harass and humiliate teen-agers.

“They detain them, make them lift their shirts and photograph their tattoos. . . .It’s an unwarranted and intrusive invasion of privacy,” said Oscar C. Gonzalez, an Oxnard attorney and spokesman for the Mexican-American Bar Assn.

“I’m particularly suspicious of a program where people are detained based on their physical appearance. Latino youths are bearing the brunt of it,” Gonzalez said.

But Norma Anguiano, president of La Colonia Neighborhood Watch, sees things differently.

“We have to be realistic,” Anguiano said. “The gangs have gotten out of hand. The officers are just trying to help our children and make our neighborhood a little bit safer.”