Police operation cracks down on Modesto gangs

MODESTO -- In Modesto's Oregon Park, atop a play structure intended for children, were a group of grown men.

Some were "flamed up" in Norteño red and all cast hard stares at the people around them.

That act alone isn't illegal, but the park is a meeting spot for Norteño gang members; a place to discuss gang politics, smoke pot or drink beer, Modesto police Sgt. Alex Bettis said.

The men's posturing is intended to send a message that, "This is our area, we control it, this is our real estate," Bettis said. "(It's) their way of planting the gang flag claiming their territory."

Standing at the top of the play structure also gives them a tactical advantage so they can see who is coming, Bettis said.

The scene is not uncommon and one witnessed by law enforcement last week while patrolling the streets as part of a summerlong gang suppression operation.

It is unlikely gang violence will cease during our lifetimes, according to law enforcement, but proactive enforcement helps ensure it doesn't consume some Modesto neighborhoods.

"We have found that by conducting direct enforcement, brazen acts of violence decrease," Bettis said.

Bettis has supervised Modesto's street gang crimes unit and now supervises the robbery unit. He also is a member of the Modesto special weapons and tactics team.

He and other members of SWAT and the gang unit for the past three weeks have saturated neighborhoods primarily in south and west Modesto, taking part in identifying, also known as validating, more than 200 gang members since the start of summer.

The SWAT team is just one component of the gang suppression effort, called Operation Summer Heat, which involves every law enforcement agency in Stanislaus County.

The SWAT team adds a higher level of visibility and makes available officers with specialized training to handle armed and dangerous criminals, said Lt. Rick Armendariz, a Modesto police spokesman and former member of a countywide gang task force.

Officers make contact with gang members through parole or probation compliance checks or during traffic stops. In a 15-day period, field interview cards were completed for 304 people, which are used to document information such as tattoos, gang attire and location, which can be indicators of which gang a person associates with.

Validated by two criteria

One of the men officers talked to was Miguel Espinoza, a validated Norteño gang member with a criminal record for possession of methamphetamine.

Espinoza said he is not part of a gang and didn't know he had been validated as a gang member. However, he was with two validated gang members and had gang tattoos, such as the letters APT, which stand for airport. He was arrested in the same neighborhood during a gang sweep in 2009.

Those two criteria are enough to validate him, according to Bettis.

Authorities use validation so investigators can track gang members' activities and so prosecutors can enhance criminal cases brought against them. Gang enhancements can mean longer prison sentences for defendants convicted of crimes committed for the benefit of a street gang.

Gang members must meet two of 10 criteria to be validated by law enforcement, including self-admission, which is surprisingly common.

"We have such a higher standard (for validating gang members), but on the street, gang members identify each other by a simple stare," Armendariz said.

They also declare their allegiance to a particular gang with the clothes they wear or the tattoos they expose. Whether it's a tattoo, a belt buckle, a hat or all of the above, the uniform of a gang member is a public declaration intended to instill fear and intimidation.