LAGUNA BEACH : Rise in Some Crimes Blamed on Gangs

Local police, seeing more gang members cruising the streets and graffiti marring property, blame gangs for a sharp rise in crimes against property, according to a crime statistics report released Tuesday by the Police Department.

The report stated that burglaries, auto theft, and larceny rose 33% altogether in 1992, and police believe that the increase correlates with a rise in gang and graffiti activities.

Police said, however, that they have no statistics to prove that the thefts are a direct result of gang members visiting the city.

“We’re just deducing that the gang members coming to the city are causing a greater number of thefts because the thefts increased the same time there was an increase in gang activities, graffiti, and a large increase in our officers contacting with gangs,” Lt. Paul Workman said.

Also on the rise are the number of reported hate crimes, much of them targeting the city’s substantial gay population.

While they do not have statistics on gang-related activities in the city, police have documented 13 cases of hate crimes in 1992, double those reported the year before, according to Police Chief Neil J. Purcell.

What’s more alarming, Purcell said, is that police received “literally, hundreds of complaints from our gay community and even our straight community, that people will drive by and spout out derogatory remarks to what they think are gay people in our community.”

“We will treat these hate-related offenses with the same intensity and aggressiveness as we do major crimes such as murder, robbery, rape and kidnaping,” the chief said.

Statistics for other major crimes remain relatively unchanged from the previous years. Overall arrests stemming from felonies, misdemeanors and warrants rose 3.7%, according to the report.

Purcell said he is also disheartened at the proliferation of tagging--the etching or painting of initials or logos on blank public spaces--in the city in recent months.

“We were pretty tag-free up until a year ago. Now, we’re finding tagging graffiti all over the place,” he said.

Purcell attributes the tagging to community youths as well as outside gang members.