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| Crows Landing tackles gang problems |
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| Written by Jonathan Partridge | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Friday, 23 May 2008 | |
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West Side community riled by slow sheriff's response, upsurge in crime CROWS LANDING — Jaime Miranda remembers riding his bike around this town of 500 people when he was a child. These days, he would not dream of letting his son do the same. The rural town of Crows Landing has been plagued by gang members lately, and most of them are from out of town, he said. “I’ve got a lot of information, and I’m tired of keeping it to myself,” he said. “It’s a community thing now.” Miranda, who runs a local baseball program in Crows Landing, was one of about 30 people who showed up at Bonita School on Wednesday to discuss the community’s crime problems. Attendees also received information about starting a Neighborhood Watch chapter to help resolve some of the issues. Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini organized the meeting at the request of Miranda and his wife, Letty, after they complained about an increase in local criminal activity. Many attendees showed open frustration about the county sheriff’s department’s response times and about its policy to have only one person patrol the West Side at any given time. No particular deputy is designated to patrol the West Side, they added, so no one at the department develops any expertise on the area. Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputy Tim Reed noted that the department’s finances are tight, and some members of the department are leaving for better-paying jobs elsewhere. Reed said it is not feasible to have a deputy solely patrol Crows Landing. That is particularly the case following a recent string of homicides in South Modesto, creating the need for more deputies to patrol that area. He suggested that a Neighborhood Watch program could help the Crows Landing area. A couple of community volunteers in the sheriff’s department’s S.T.A.R.S. program gave specifics about the Neighborhood Watch program and described potential benefits. For one thing, they said, S.T.A.R.S. volunteers would pick up reports collected by Neighborhood Watch “block captains” or chapter leaders. That information would be pooled together, making it easier to spot crime trends. In addition, Neighborhood Watch would call in experts from the sheriff’s department to teach community members how to be good witnesses when they spot criminal activity, they said. S.T.A.R.S. volunteer Rodney Caetano said the goal is for Neighborhood Watch participants to act as the eyes and ears of the community, making it difficult for criminals to operate in the area and ultimately driving them out. “The whole idea is to get these people out of our county,” he said. “Let them move to San Joaquin County; let them move to Merced County.” DeMartini said the Riverdale community in the south Modesto area off Carpenter and Hatch roads used to be a gang hotspot, but it has had success with a Neighborhood Watch group. “That community got together, and they’ve run the guys out of town,” DeMartini said. Still, the people at the meeting appeared cynical, and many said the real problem lay with how long it takes the sheriff’s department to respond to calls. Crows Landing resident Kathi Peichoto said community members tried to start a Neighborhood Watch program in the 1980s, but it ultimately failed. Neighborhood Watch signs were stolen soon after they were posted, she said. Residents also described a recent spike in crimes. Those included incidents of gang members robbing someone of a bicycle, painting graffiti on local buildings, dealing drugs and jumping in the community swimming pool at night. Most of the people who cause the problems are from nearby cities, such as Patterson, Newman and Ceres, Jaime Miranda said. Complicating problems is that sheriff’s dispatchers sometimes do not even know where Crows Landing is, attendees said, confusing it with Crows Landing Road in Modesto. Despite the challenges, several people supported restarting Neighborhood Watch, saying they wanted to do what they could to curb the town’s growing criminal activity. Reed said after the meeting that he thought it was a good forum to allow residents to air their concerns and that he sensed their frustration. He said he had hopes that a Neighborhood Watch program in Crows Landing might lead to improvements. “I think it’s a good start,” he said. To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Comments
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My name is Linda Taylor, I am a outspoken community Activist from Turlock.
I understand your frustration over gang issues in your area! I feel the same way you do, long response times, concerns ignored, it's time for us to organize our efforts, to stand up and speak out.
I am planning a large anti gang event. I also have some astonishing information you are going to want to hear! It directly affects you.
This is my email address, if you are just as fed up as we are on gang problems, please contact me at:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Sincerely,
Linda Taylor.