Among the items on my list of top 3 things I'd like the Menifee city council to address is gangs.

Living close to Perris, Lake Elsinore, Hemet, our city can be easily be swept up by gangs, and the name "Menifee" will become as synonymous as those three neighboring cities.

Last night on Menifee Valley Talk Radio, Jerry Lopez, a Senior Deputy District Attorney, and head of the Riverside County Gang Task Force—Prevention and Intervention, was on air talking about the gang problem in Riverside County. While he didn't have statistics on gangs here in Menifee, he did have some data county-wide...

• From 1997 to 2006, Riverside County added 122 new gangs, and 2,600 gang members



• From 2006 to 2007, Riverside County added 133 more gangs, and 1,300 more gang members



• Southern California is the mecca for gangs, with Los Angeles County being the most gang-infested area in the entire world.

And that's only counting the gangs and gang members that law-enforcement has records on.

The Root Problem

Lopez said that the problem all starts with poor parenting. He hit this theme hard enough that one could make the assumption that if your child is associating with a gang, that you yourself are a poor parent. He said it's not a financial matter, or an ethnic matter. He went on to say that there could be excellent parents living in Rubidoux, and bad parents living Canyon Lake.

His solution is that parents need to take classes on parenting. He said that when a new baby is born, a hospital ought to offer parenting classes. When a child enters school, schools ought to offer parenting classes. When a child graduates high school, that child ought to take parenting classes.

Failure to Start a Relationship

The poor parenting that Lopez described largely had to do with a failure to establish a relationship between the parent and child. Parents often claim that they're spending time with their kids, being involved in their schooling, and watching what they're getting into. But he said that's not really what he's talking about.

He said that parents are not giving their kids a meaningful relationship, built on love, respect, as well as a working relationship where the two establish goals towards making achievements. Young persons feel they have certain talents they want to develop, and that the development of these skills raises their self-esteem. If they can't develop these talents through their parents, they associate with other kids to achieve that collectively.

Gangs use these all of these things as lures to get them in.

What Can the City of Menifee Do?

I suppose offering these parenting classes is a step, but I think that most parents won't attend. I tend to think that there already are parenting classes out there.

I'd like to see more community-oriented events. The "Movies in the Park" at La Ladera Park ought to continue after the city takes over from the County. That's an excellent example of parents and their children spending an outing together. Let's get this into more of our parks.

Another thing working against Menifee is that most of our families have one or two parents that commute long distances to work and back. They can't always attend the Movies in the Park, or can't get back home in time to take them to Karate classes, or soccer practice, etc. Getting more high paying jobs into Menifee will give parents more time with their kids.

In terms of contracting with the Sheriff, Lopez said that for every gang member they put into prison, there's another 10-20 kids waiting to take that person's place. It's a case of supply outgrowing the demand, and so much so, that kids are starting new gangs altogether.

I don't know if it'll make any difference, but perhaps just having our city council adopt a mission statement that Menifee will be a "family-focused" city, might be the first step towards making Menifee a bad place for gangs to exist.

Labels: Gangs

This Sunday, July 27, at 7:00pm, "Gangs and Truancy in Menifee" will be discussed on Menifee Valley Talk Radio. This is actually the second of a two-part series.

Last week, on part one of the series, Therese and Mieke talked about school truancy and drop out rates, and connected that to a growing population of gangs and gang members roaming throughout Menifee.

This Sunday, part two will feature Senior Deputy District Attorney Jerry Lopez, head of the Riverside County Gang Task Force—Prevention and Intervention. Lopez is the coordinator for Project Safe Neighborhoods, and is a veteran community prosecutor and community liaison specializing in youth intervention services.

You can listen to Menifee Valley Talk Radio at this link...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/MenifeeValleyRadio

You can hear last week's show here...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/..../Truancy-and-Gangs-in-Menifee

Labels: Gangs, Radio

A Menifee 24/7 reader submitted the following comment today an older post of mine regarding their son mugged by some guys near La Ladera Park, in the Menifee Hills community...

Hmm sounds like we have alot of bickering going on- let's get back to providing a safe neighborhood for kids. If you think it isn't a problem let me tell you what happened last night.

My 24 year old son was walking to work at about 8 PM last night (please don't need any comments about why walking at 8 pm at night- we should be able to do this anytime) and he was robbed by 3 hispanic males ranging from 17-24 (again no one is stereotyping so please no discussion about this). Do you still think there is no problem?

One of them had a knife and he was surrounded since they jumped out of the bushes. It was the street right before the one that La Ladera Park is on ( the one that goes to the elementary school ). I also drove by the park today at about 3 pm and there were a group of males easily over 18 all of them with the clothes and bandanas .They also stared at me like I was invading there space.

I grew up in Tracy California where there was activity like this but much worse. I remember having to have about 5 friends to accompany you to class because gangs would pick on you if you only had 1 or 2. They would travel in gangs of 10 or more and harass people all the time- that is only if these gangs (cowards) seen you had 1 or 2. They wouldn't bother you unless they had an overwhelming odds-again cowards.

I won't let this happen to my kids. If you care about the community and ensuring these people don't invade our community then please respond.If you have negative comments or criticisms please keep them to yourself only positive ones that will help. Thanks.

If anyone is victimized by a crime, here are the phone numbers to report...

In Menifee...
Southwest Station
30755-A Auld Road
Murrieta, CA 92563
(951) 696-3000

In Sun City & Romoland...
Perris Station
137 N. Perris
Perris, CA 92570
(951) 210-1000

In Quail Valley...
Lake Elsinore Station
333 Limited Avenue
Lake Elsinore, CA 92530
(951) 245-3300

Labels: Gangs, La-Ladera-Park, Menifee-Hills

The Riverside County Sheriff reports that an arrest of Robert Estrada Jr., age 27 of Menifee, was made yesterday on weapons charges, and for being a member of a criminal street gang.

It started when Estrada was driving a van with three other passengers, in the City of Lake Elsinore, when a motorcycle cop pulled him over for not wearing seat belts...

Once the vehicle stopped, the driver was found to be unlicensed. The vehicle was occupied by two adult males and two teenage females. The driver was arrested for driving unlicensed and a search of the vehicle was conducted, resulting in the discovery of a loaded .22 caliber revolver and approximately 50 rounds of ammunition. The two male occupants, Robert Estrada Jr., age 27 of Menifee and Issac Solis, age 18 of Lake Elsinore were found to be under the influence of drugs and members of a criminal street gang.

Members of the Riverside County Gang Task Force responded to assist with the investigation. The investigation revealed at least three of the vehicle's occupants had ingested illegal drugs and had just purchased additional narcotics. Robert Estrada Jr., on probation for prior weapons convictions, upon seeing the motor officer attempted to pass the gun to Solis. Solis in turn passed the gun to one of the female juvenile occupants who hid the gun inside the vehicle.

Estrada and Solis were booked into the Southwest Detention Center for weapons and gang violations. One of the female juveniles was booked into Juvenile Hall on weapons charges.

Read the Sheriff's full report online...
http://www.riversidesheriff.org/press/07130043.htm

Labels: Crime, Gangs, Lake-Elsinore

An anonymous commenter wrote a response to one of Eric's previous posts, concerning what he/she perceives as increased gang activity in Menifee Hills, along La Ladera Road.

I'm posting it here as a new article because it deserves separate discussion...

Hello fellow Menifee residents:

I am extremely concerned with alot of bad activity occurring in the La Ladera residential area. I have been noticing an increase in off road vehicles, dirt bikes, mini bikes, lifted golf carts, dune buggy's etc. in the area. Mainly around the residential tracks and the La Ladera race strip that runs in between them.

This occurs on a regular basis. These off road vehicles are zipping up and down the 25 MPH zones, where our children play, couples are walking and vehicles travel in and out of driveways. These vehicles are exceeding the speeed limit, exceeding the maximum paasnger occupancy on the off road vehicle and usually has a drunk behind the wheel. I've seen guys drinking in golf carts, doing donuts, speeding and driving through home front lawns.

I have also noticed an increase in graffitti, gang activity and some really strange kids in the area. Itis a mix of gang banger types and punk rocker types. I watched a gathering of approximatley 10-20 thugs at the La Ladera Park after 10 p.m. wearing bandannas, baggy pants, sunglasses at night and low rider cars. I have also watched kids walking with mohawks, shaved heads, military boots, tight pants with jackets that have metal spikes on them. These kids were hitting mail boxes in the area with sticks and shouting profanity and anti-government slander as they did it.

What the heck is happening to our neighborhood? What have we created or allowed to polute our nice family oriented small town? I have peronnaly encountered several near accidents involving small children and vehicles with these off road vehicles. We as a community need to work together and not be afraid of these things. CALL THE POLICE when you see this happening! This is uncalled for and not nessasary. It is making our property value go down and endangering the life of our families and property. Stand Up and take action as a community! Who wants to be the one who has a child get hit by a dirt bike or golf cart? Or the one, who's house got tagged? Or the one who's vehicle gets stolen? Lets get this trouble out of here!

Thanks.

In my response to this person, I've seen the people described above. I don't think there is anything that we've done as a community to invite gangs. I think gangs are always looking for new places to call home, and the Menifee Hills community is a new community, having begun construction only five years ago.

I recall reading about new gangs moving into Menifee in the newspaper, but in the older communities. Now that Menifee Hills is pretty well established, it's perhaps no surprise we're now seeing them here.

Moreover, just because people have mohawks and wear bandanas doesn't mean they're gang members. Most of these people are just youths looking for an identity. Teenage-troublemakers have been around for as long as there have been teenagers.

As a solution, I propose homeowners in Menifee Hills (of which I am one), spend more time outdoors, in the community, making yourselves known. What troublemakers do not like, are lots of people watching them. Take your dog for a walk every day, or ride your bicycle around the neighborhood, take your kids to La Ladera Park, or just sit on the front porch and relax. The more people we have outdoors in the neighborhood, the less gang activity we're going to have.

I do agree that we should call the Sheriff's office to report all such illegal behavior, even though we know they're not going to respond. The Sheriff needs to see the calls in order to know that he can't ignore this community.

Labels: Gangs, La-Ladera-Park, Menifee-Hills