Gangs in Davis? Threat or Overblown by Authorities?

ganginjunction_cat.jpgA Davis resident and mother of a teenage son was stunned to learn that her son would be facing 10 felonies including 5 gang enhancements for his role in a fistfight in front of her Davis home.  As the Vanguard soon learned, her son would not be alone.  Is this part of a new rising gang threat in Davis or simply a matter of the Davis Police Department and the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office overreacting to relatively minor offenses by tacking on gang enhancements?

The Vanguard, in the first of what could be several installments over the coming weeks and months examines, that question more closely.

For this Davis mother, whose name we are withholding to protect the identity not only of her son but several of the friends of her son.  This all began with a fight that developed in front of her home.  She arrived home one day in the early evening to find a number of kids dispersing from her property.  Apparently one of her son’s friends had fought another young man over a bicycle.  In addition to the combatants, there were four spectators on each side watching them fight.

Said the mother:

“From what I could see I didn’t even know there had been a fight.  I definitely didn’t see any weapons.  There was no sign of blood or trauma, no yelling or screaming.  No one was on the ground.  I couldn’t tell there had been a fight.  None of the boys had told me there had been a fight.”

The mother only would find out about the fight two hours later when Officer Keirith Briesenick arrived at her home.  Officer Briesenick was a former member of the Yolo County Gang Task Force.  She alerted the mother to the fight and asked for a statement from her son and friend.  She informed the mother that the fight was a big deal and it involved baseball bats.

The minors declined to give a statement and believed that the incident was over.  However a few weeks later at a house party in Davis, the mother received a phone call from the police at 12:30 am to inform her that there had been a party and gave her the option of allowing her son to either walk home or to have her pick him up.

“So I drove out to Mace Ranch to pick my son up from the house party that the police had broken up around midnight.  When I got there, I saw [his friend] in the back of a cop car.  I said wow, why is he in the cop car?  My son said there was a warrant out for his arrest.  I said for what?  And he said, for that fight.  I said, are you kidding me?  He said, no.”

The friend would end up spending over a month in juvenile detention.  The mother does not know what the charges were however, she does know that when he took the deal from the District Attorney he was validated as a gang member, he got a strike, and he remains on house arrest with an ankle monitor.  He will remain on probation until he is 25 years old.

Apparently what had happened is that following the fight, some of the kids on the other side got caught with baseball bats, they were going to get into a lot of trouble and so they concocted a story where this kid hit them with a crowbar.

“This is a total lie,” the mother said,  “I was a witness and there was definitely no crowbar or weapon of any kind.”

Unfortunately this kid was in no position to fight the charges.  He is the youngest of 14 kids.  They are a poor Mexican family that lives in East Davis, afraid to confront the authorites, and they just ended up taking the deal.

However, soon her son would get caught up in the legal mess as well.  He made the unfortunate decision to confront the second combatant’s girlfriend on MySpace.  According to his mother, he was simply asking the girl to tell her boyfriend to tell the truth.  But the police took it as a threat and an attempt to dissuade a witness.

“Tell [the second combatant] it would be best for him to tell the truth.  If [his friend] gets hella time for this, it’s going to be bad.”

Said the mother, “I was shocked, I was like, I can’t believe this.  My son is just telling him to tell the truth.  This kid has made up a total lie about this crowbar.  Now my son has been charged with ten felony counts.”

Not only did they charge him with PC 136.1(a)(2) attempting to dissuade a witness, but they upgraded it a gang enhancement. 

Reads the complaint:

“It is further alleged that at the time of the commission of offense charged in this count, minor committed the above felony for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist any criminal conduct by gang members, and is subject to the enhancement within the meaning of Section 186.22(b)(1) of the California Penal Code, Enhancement for Criminal Street Gang Activity.”

In addition to the dissuading a witness, they tacked on receiving stolen property in the form of the bicycle that was in dispute in the fight as well as a previous assault charge upgraded to a felony with a gang enhancement for his own fistfight that he had been in school back in September.

However, the DA is willing to reduce the charges to three misdemeanors.

“She has since been willing to drop all of the gang enhancement charges and he’d be charged with assault for the fight that he got in the first week in school, a fist fight with a black kid, neither one of them were gang members, but they tried to fit that as a gang fight as well.  He’s being charged with misdemeanor dissuading a witness and misdemeanor possession of stolen property.”

However, she has decided along with her son’s attorney not to take the deal.

“Just by taking this deal, we’re admitting guilt.  You’re going to be on probation and you shouldn’t even be on probation.”

Instead they are seeking informal handling, which if approved by the probation department, could be a way to get all of the charges dropped if he does not get in trouble for six months.  Because he has no other record and gets good grades in school this is a possibility.

“My son is having to submit urine tests every Monday and they are checking up on his grades and his attendance see if he qualifies for this informal program.”

The story may not end nearly as well for some of her son’s friends whose story we will be telling in the coming weeks and months.

Gang Members or Simply Kids being Kids?

What emerges is a picture that while not completely clear suggests a police officer perhaps overzealous in her pursuit and search for criminal gang activity in Davis and a District Attorney’s office more than willing to make a name as a gang fighter.  At least that’s the story that you get from this mother and the mothers of several other children in Davis that the Vanguard has spoken to.

This mother told the story of another kid who was validated as a gang member, served time at a facility called Faust, where the kid actually did become a gang member to survive.  But for the most part these kids are either not gang members or what the mother classifies as wannabees.

“None of the kids at the fight that he was involved in were gang members.  A couple of them were wannabes.  The kid that he fought claims to be, although he’s not validated, he claims to be…  There’s Norteno and Sureno and I think [son’s friend] is a wannabe Norteno and the kid that he fought is a wannabe Soreno.   Now [son’s friend] is officially validated as a gangmember and that’s going to stick with him for a long time.”

Part of the problem that we have seen is that a lot of these kids are no position to fight the charges.  They come from poor families.  Some of their families might not be in this country legally.  The District Attorney is throwing out ten felony counts at a time, and most are like the son’s friend, they end up taking a deal, getting validated and ending up on probation which then gives the police and probation department the ability to come into their home at any time and search for violations of probation.

That’s when the problems can really start as was the case recently for one of her son’s friends who they found gang colored red clothing and pictures in the house and he ended up getting arrested on a probation violation.
For the mother, she says she is arround these kids all of the time as they like to hang out at her ask and she sees no evidence of gang activity.

“I never saw any gang activity.  Yes, maybe they’re proud of their heritage, but I never heard them talk about drug trafficking or robberies.  They would come into my house and play Xbox and listen to rap music.  I’m shocked that these little fist fights, fist fighting is against the law, but none of them that I have witnessed or heard of in Davis had anything to do with gangs.  I just hope that my son has a good lawyer because there is no way my son has anything to do with a gang.  I think the DA realized that that’s why she dropped it from the ten felonies with all of the gang enhancements down to the three misdemeanors.”

The fight turned out to be a fight between wannabe gang member and thus it became a gang fight.

From the perspective of Davis Police Chief Landy Black there is no real distinction between wannabe and gang member.

Said Chief Black:

“My perspective, and I think I share it with a lot of other law enforcement folks, is that the term “wannabe” is something of a community cop-out. Communities and individuals in a state of denial about the fact that they have gang activity in their midst attempt to soften things by thinking and saying things like, “Oh, we don’t have a gang problem, these kids are just ‘wannabes’.””

As he explained, by the time the matter gets to the attention of the police, it’s the conduct not the level or tenure of gang association that matters.

“In fact, often “wannabes” trying to establish a reputation and credibility with their prospective gang, will act more outrageously. From the police perspective, that’s gang activity, not wannabe activity as distinguished from gang activity.”

Unfortunately, since this matter involves the conduct of minors, Chief Black cannot specifically address what had happened.  He can only speak in generalities about the Davis gang problem.

“When examining the criteria for being classified as a validated gang member, while claiming gang membership and being named by members of the gang as a fellow member are criterion, there are actually more individual criterion based on presence/participation during gang activity/crime and conduct supportive of gang crime/disorder. From the community’s perspective—and thereby from the police perspective—official, “jumped-in”, gang status is immaterial. It is the criminal and community-disruptive conduct that we desire to curb and control.”

For Davis School Superintendent James Hammond, the problem in Davis is with the “wannabe gang members.”

In October he told the Davis Enterprise,

“Wannabe gang  members thrive off attention, and will behave as if they were a gang  member, even if they don’t really participate.  One thing we have to be very careful of is the ability for recruitment. When you see older gang  members who are able to influence junior high  students, that’s a real important indicator to watch.”

The Vanguard caught up with Dr. Hammond last week on this issue.

“I think any time you have a large comprehensive high school you always have concerns that there could be wannabe gang members that either have affiliation with relatives or friends that are from other areas that have what I would call more intense gang issues.  There is a temptation to basically copy or imitate certain behaviors as a result.”

When asked to elaborate on his concerns, he told the Vanguard:

“I think there’s a range of issues, I think you can start from the way you talk slang words, to the paraphernalia, or even the clothes that you wear.  But definitely when you start running in a pack, you tend to assimilate to those behaviors.  It escalates from petty crime and you do that enough and it becomes a gateway to much more intense behaviors, much more violent behaviors that are potentially much more criminal behaviors.”

Despite the obvious and justifiable concern about any activity, one still wonders if relatively minor incidents are being trumped up due to the attachment of the gang label to them.  As the mother pointed out,

“Back in my era in the 70s, you got in a fist fight, you got sent to the principal’s office and that was it.  Nowadays, fighting in public becomes a much more extreme charge.  If you get in a fist fight and they consider you a wannabe gang member, they hammer it on you.  Only one of them out of ten people thought he was a gang member.  None of the other kids have anything to do with gang anything.”

Moreover, there is a good deal of collateral damage occurring.  As these kids get into trouble over relatively minor incidents, they end up leaving school, never graduating, and ending up in the system which in turn leads them into further trouble.

“I feel like they are doing more harm than good by the punishment that they are giving these kids.  If anything they should be forced to go to school.  They should be threatened to go to juvenile hall if they have bad attendance.  What they are doing now is ruining their lives, these two boys are right now validated and they get harassed just by the probation department because when you’re on probation the probation department can come by and tear your house apart.”

How big is the gang problem in Davis?

According to information provided by the Davis Police Department there are 121 validated gang members in the city of Davis that are considered “active gang members.”  Moreover there are 53 validated gang members who are not currently active.  They have 20 unique street gangs listed in their database but only seven considered active and only because they have members living in Davis.

However, the problem may be even smaller than that.  In an October Davis Enterprise article Officer Briesenick indicated that there may only be 30 active gang members in Davis.

Briesenick estimated there are “between 20 and 30 active gang  members” in Davis  , but added that much of the gang  activity is focused on about 10 individuals. There are another 20 or 30 people living in Davis  who are more loosely gang  -related, she said, as well as several dozen others who are “validated gang  members” who live elsewhere, but turn up in Davis.

Since 2007, the DPD made 18 unique arrests with a gang enhancement charge.

Chief Black described it as “not a large gang problem when you count the number of “gang crimes” that way.”

To put it another way, the people that the Vanguard has spoken with account for a good percentage of those 18 arrests.

Gang Validation Process

The Vanguard was surprised to discover that validated gang members are given cards with finger prints upon being validated.  According to state penal codes, a street gang is any organization Association, or group of three or more persons, formal or informal, which 1) has continuity of purpose, 2) seeks a group identity, and 3) has members who individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal activity.

As Chief Black points out, validation isn’t an issue argued in court, it is a tool to assist law enforcement keep track of potential offenders, not a tool for prosecution.

There is a gang database maintained by the California Department of Justice through its CALGANG system.  They use a similar criteria to what they use in Davis, except Davis requires three factors and the state requires just two factors.

For Davis PD, an individual may be validated as a gang member based on the following criteria (three must be present):

  • Admits gang membership.
  • Correspondence identifies as gang member. (Writes and/or receives correspondence about gang activities.)
  • Named by another known/validated gang member as member of gang.
  • Has gang logo tattoo(s).
  • Wears gang clothing/colors.
  • Associates on a regular basis with known gang members.
  • Is in a photograph indicating gang affiliation.
  • Contacted in the field for gang activity.
  • Displaying gang signs.
  • Displays gang graffiti on personal belongings.
  • Involved in gang-related (PC §186.22) crimes.

Summary

Part of the problem we faced in this inquiry is that we are dealing with minors.  Minors are generally protected by laws that prevent the release of their identity or dealings of criminal matters.  From some standpoints this is a good process that allows a minor to possibly get his or her act together without the glare of public light and scrutiny.

However, it seems to a good degree that some of the authorities are using these laws designed to protect minors to their own benefit.  We could not question the District Attorney’s office to attempt to understand their rationale for what appears to us at least to be the overcharging of fairly minor crimes.  When you turn a fistfight into a felony with gang enhancements that raises the level of severity several notches above what would at least appear to be warranted.

The level of gang activity and the severity of crimes would not appear to match the need for such a response.

The term gang member itself seems problematic and in some ways prejudicial as it could describe a whole range of activities that are lumped under a single category and treated in a uniform matter.  It is one thing for kids to wear clothing that emulates gang members, listen to rap music, and get into fist fights.  It is quite another when they begin to actually engage in activities such as drug dealing and more dangerous forms of violence.

But the moment they are subsumed under the label of validated gang member and get gang enhanced charges those distinctions disappear.  The public hears the term gang member and panics.

In Davis at least, some of the response does not seem to fit the crime and we are struggling to understand why that is the case.

In the coming weeks and months, hopefully we will get a better sense for what is happening and why.

—David M. Greenwald reporting

Author

  • David Greenwald

    Greenwald is the founder, editor, and executive director of the Davis Vanguard. He founded the Vanguard in 2006. David Greenwald moved to Davis in 1996 to attend Graduate School at UC Davis in Political Science. He lives in South Davis with his wife Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald and three children.

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93 comments

  1. The DA’s office has taken out grants for a gang task force and obviously used its data to show a need. Is that what is fueling this? I’m not sure, the answer may be a lot more mundane than that.

  2. Funny this comes up now because just the other day my wife and I were commenting on the increased grafitti in our area which is the East Davis and Mace Ranch section of town in which a month ago there was basically none. Someone tagged the whole side of the Travis Credit Union and it can be seen down Pole Line on the white brick wall. There are a few tags that are seen many times, gang related or just some juvinile delinquents who knows? I for one like that our police dept. is trying to stay on top of any possible gang problem.

  3. Wow… sounds like this anonymous “mother” is a complete loser. Its a pity that there isn’t a permit required before you can have kids. It would be nice if the police could simply punish the parents of underage gang members for the crimes as adults. No, I don’t see the difference between “wannabes” and members of any of the gangs with better press.

    I wonder if this article would have been written if instead of being from an ethnic minority they had been wannabe skinheads?

  4. “I wonder if this article would have been written if instead of being from an ethnic minority they had been wannabe skinheads?”

    You mean if they had been tormenting ethnic minorities instead of walking around rapping and having small fist fights. You think the two activities are comparable?

  5. “I for one like that our police dept. is trying to stay on top of any possible gang problem. “

    I have no problem with them staying on top of a possible problem, it’s how they choose to go about doing it that could become dicey.

  6. “tormenting ethnic minorities instead of walking around rapping and having small fist fights”

    see this is where I am amused by your concept of being even-handed. What makes you think that there is ANY difference between a skinhead and a cholo or a black gang member? They are all totally intolerant of anyone who is different from themselves. That is why they racially segregate themselves.

    All gangs start the same way, they all hang out and listen to their own music, talk and have small fist fights… But in the end, to differentiate themselves from being members of the Rotary, Boy Scouts or Glee Club- they have to do something illegal and violent. Its how they obtain their own twisted sort of credibility.

    So in short, I am delighted that the police can jump on these scum while they are beating on each other rather than after they have beaten on someone else. I am simply pointing out that if some snaggle-toothed white-trash baby mamma called you with a story how her little hitler youth son had gotten arrested for gang activity when he was just out front chilling with his Aryan friends having a little gang fight- you would not have been as sympathetic. I personally see no difference.

  7. “see this is where I am amused by your concept of being even-handed. What makes you think that there is ANY difference between a skinhead and a cholo or a black gang member? They are all totally intolerant of anyone who is different from themselves. That is why they racially segregate themselves.”

    Here’s where I’m amused for lack of a better term. How do you know that these particular kids are intolerant of people different from themselves? Because the police called them gang members?

  8. Baseball bats = worthy of gang consideration

    Fist fights = what boys do sometimes to settle conflicts

    However, like fighting terrorism, it requires preemptive and proactive actions to prevent the problem from becoming unmanageable. I’m not so sure zero tolerance for group fights is a bad thing in this day where our progressive sensibilities can value the sanctity of victims over the sanctity of lives.

  9. Like the 30’s, 50’s and now, in “dark times” of fear and public anger seeking “culprits” for growing economic hardship, fascism and xenophobia raises its ugly head; each time, U.S. values and institutions have pulled us back from the brink. Thanks David for bringing these issues out of the dark for us to think about.

  10. I live down the street from this “poor Mexican family in East Davis” (that description is very humorous) and can tell you that this is not the first time there’s been trouble there. I’ve had those kids throw things at my car completely unprovoked. They yell at neighbors, stand menacingly in the middle in the street, throw beer bottles on the lawn, intimidate cyclists, etc.
    I don’t know if these kids are wannabes or real gangsters, but in my opinion their behavior warrants the treatment they are receiving. They are not innocent victims.

  11. [quote]He is the youngest of 14 kids.[/quote] Almost all of our societal problems — from not enough money for schools to crime to prison overcrowding and so on — would be greatly relieved, if not completely solved, with serious birth control. Peope wonder, what the hell happened to California? It used to be a nice state? It used to have the best public schools and the best universities? A lot of the answer to what happened is to be found in that one family: A third world mentality came over the border.

  12. A few thoughts:

    To Jeff: Zero tolerance is a principle not a policy. There’s still debate for what the reasonable response to a given incident should be. The punishment should still fit the crime.

    To Neighbor: There is no doubt that some of these kids are not innocent. The question is whether this particular (who is not your neighbor) deserves the punishment that he got and the kid who is your neighbor deserved the punishment that he got.

    I’m not advocating that we ignore crimes that may be committed, but I also do not think we helping these kids by treating them in this fashion. How does it help your neighbor for him not to finish high school? How is that going to impact your own safety?

  13. [i]I’ve had those kids throw things at my car completely unprovoked.[/i]

    I can believe that certain families and certain groups of kids will cause more and more trouble until the police put a stop to it. Even in Davis, sometimes it can escalate to very serious crimes. For instance, both Andrew Mockus (in 1992) and Thong Hy Huynh (in 1983) were killed by bullies in Davis.

    So I have no idea whether there is anything wrong with arresting this teenager in East Davis or charging him with felonies. A “fistfight” could be anything from one punch in the arm to a brutal assault. If male adults or teenagers really fight and refuse to stop, they don’t necessarily need weapons to send someone to the hospital or worse.

    The problem is that the word “gang” can bring inappropriate politics, fear-mongering, and draconian punishments into play, even in response to real violence. “Gangs” are a local version of the war on terrorism. I don’t know that the gang concept is all that useful in most places, or useful at all in Davis.

  14. Greg:

    I’m in agreement with you here on the issue of gangs and that’s the point I think people need to think about. If a crime happens, then by all means deal with that, but we seem to be overreacting.

    On issue of the fistfight, I can tell you none of the kids involved in a fight had to receive medical attention.

  15. David-
    You see perhaps an over-reaction to a minor incident. I think the DPD saw it is a great opportunity to take some scum out of circulation. I heartily support their actions [edit — no personal insults, please]

  16. I am very concerned that you are depicted kids that you have never met as scum. The main kid in this article is a very good student–why are you being so dismissive? If that’s the police’s attitude, then I go from being concerned to alarmed that they would decide for themselves that these kids are scum and therefore not worthy of any ability to have a decent life. This is their lives and they are being ruined in part by this overreaction and you are not helping.

  17. The term gang member itself seems problematic and in some ways prejudicial as it could describe a whole range of activities that are lumped under a single category...”

    Both the “gang” label and the “hate crime” label are methods by which we enhance the penalties for already-illegal behavior. But a tendency towards fist fights and baseball bats may be what prompted the DA’s office to start with a heavy threat. I note that the offer was reduced to a pretty insubstantial penalty. Let’s hope the young man got the message: stop fighting, and consider how you choose your friends.

  18. A fight is, in fact, illegal. It is a misdemeanor.
    Kids, particularly teenage boys, need to be told that it is NOT ok to fight.
    I don’t really understand the “gang validation” concept, and I agree that would be harmful to have on the record. The mother’s decision to pursue an appeal doesn’t seem unreasonable. But “these little fist fights” doesn’t sound as though she’s taking that all this seriously. Urine tests and monitoring his grades all seem very reasonable to me. But in the course of your interview with her, did you ask her what punishment she is meting out to him for his fighting?

  19. I’m with you on the fight being illegal and being a misdemeanor.

    When I spoke to her she made it clear that him fighting wasn’t acceptable and that that would be dealt with, but part of the problem here is that the over response by the police actually undermines that because it focuses them on fighting the unreasonable charges rather than dealing with the reasonable and actual problems.

  20. It’s these gang “wannabees” that create a toxic environment at schools and in neighborhoods. Their activities (bulling, fighting, threats toward others, vandalism, petty theft, etc.) are everything this community has been working against for years.

    This mother is complaining about her son being on probation, but allowed to remain at home under his mother’s supervision. This is the lightest touch of penalties available under Juvenile law. If he stays out of trouble, refrains from using drugs, and attends school, probation will end. That’s not too much to ask of ANY child living in Davis (or elsewhere, for that matter.)

  21. “This mother is complaining about her son being on probation, but allowed to remain at home under his mother’s supervision. “

    That’s another kid she is referring to, her son’s charges are still pending.

  22. would be greatly relieved, if not completely solved, with serious birth control

    I get that point, but that is not the only real root cause for CA troubled youth. They include:
    •Lack of strong and capable participating fathers as a role model.
    •Too many single mothers which gets us to your point about birth control.
    •A high percentage of lower income families lacking parenting skills/sophistication.
    •A CA divorce industry favors wives/mothers to the extent that husbands/fathers are frequently left financially destitute and either angry or depressed or both.
    •Mothers and fathers working and kids with little supervision and direction.
    •A degradation of individual and collective moral compass.
    •Public schools favoring and orienting toward girl behavior and causing more boys to drop out.

    The birth control suggestion has negative consequences from a social, cultural and national security perspective. I am reading a good book right now that links the demise of historical civilizations to low birth rate. The West and China (for different reasons) are looking at a too low percent of young people to support our aging population. Compare that to Muslim countries and 3rd-world countries. For example, Yemen has a birth rate of 42.14 per 1000 and the US’s birth rate is 14.18. France’s birth rate is 12.73. It takes about 17 per 1000 (or 1.7%) to keep a country’s population sustainable.

    I would rather we advocate stronger parenting, support for families and support for boys rather than advocating birth control.

  23. [quote]I would rather we advocate stronger parenting, support for families and support for boys rather than advocating birth control.
    [/quote]In a world of 7 billion people (and heading toward 12 billion), there is no sustainable future in which women with no ability to properly raise children have 14 children.

  24. Jeff: “The birth control suggestion has negative consequences from a social, cultural and national security perspective. I am reading a good book right now that links the demise of historical civilizations to low birth rate.”

    Generally birth rate declines as prosperity increases, up to a point. Then, as prosperity increases even more, fertility rates often increase again. (http://www.religiousconsultation.org/NEWS/developed_nations_see_rise_in_fertility.htm)

    “•A degradation of individual and collective moral compass.”
    I doubt this is provable or falsifiable.

  25. In a world of 7 billion people (and heading toward 12 billion), there is no sustainable future in which women with no ability to properly raise children have 14 children.

    I should have clarified… Advocating birth control for high population – high poverty countries would be fine. Advocating the same for the wealthy west is not fine.

    It is an interesting cultural phenomenon that the more liberal we become, the fewer kids we have. I can’t decide if progressives think that people with large families are stupid or blessed. Based on the way they have treated Sarah Palin, I think it might be the former. I think Hillary Clinton is more the progressive’s model of perfect motherhood. If you disagree, I would like to hear the name of a mother of a large family perceived as intelligent and capable by progressives.