4/20 Sunday in Review

An accident victim.

The other car after the driver abandoned it and bailed on foot. Don't worry, he didn't get far.
And of course, what Sunday would be complete without the obligatory BBQ–now with movie!
Stop lying to yourself. You want to live here. Santa Ana rocks.

I Love It When They Run

Taking a break from the über-addicting Super Mario Galaxy to walk the dog last night, I zeroed in on two kids; one of which was tagging the wall on the north side of Santa Ana Boulevard. As they crossed Santiago Street and headed towards our complex, I knew right then that trouble was headed our way. I quickly brought the dog inside, grabbed my “usual necessities” and charged out the door.

One of the kiddies that was wearing a USC hooded sweatshirt was supposed to be the lookout while his friend spray-painted the rollup door on a unit across the street. That kid in the sweatshirt had one job and one job alone—and he failed miserably being that I was able to run-up and pepper spray the tagger right between the eyes.

With a face full of searing pain, he amazingly “Froggered” his way across the street through traffic and headed west down Santa Ana Boulevard. In “police speak”, I engaged the suspect in pursuit.

Over the course of my life, I’ve come to accept that I’m pretty much an average guy (yes, you should be feeling sorry for “Mrs. Dayhoe” if you don’t already), average with the exception that I can run—really fast (and swear all at the same time).

In high school, I ran a 4.4/40. That means for every 1.1 seconds, I’ve advanced another ten yards in distance. Making it off the pine, well, that’s another story, a sad one at that.

Needless to say, I caught up to him by the next block (Garfield Street) and at this point, I was terrified—terrified that the Chipotle burrito that I devoured less than an hour prior was going to burst from me like it did from the foil wrapper.

Without even having to tackle him, I forced him to lie down on his stomach, spread his legs, and put his hands behind his back. The problem now was that I didn’t have anything to restrain him with other than my body weight (plus a 5lb. burrito that was churning away).

Luckily, an FBI officer returning from a prisoner drop-off saw me chasing him down the street and took the time after a long day to lend a hand and a set of cuffs, allowing me to place an out-of-breath call to SAPD.

At this time, a neighbor at the lofts, Maglite in hand, also arrived on the scene having heard me yelling when I originally confronted the tagger. I was amazed and thankful that he too came to help out.

The police showed up and had me fill out the standard police report. Let me tell you, since moving to Santa Ana, that’s one form I’ve filled out one too many times.

They asked me “What possessed you to try to take this extreme form of action?”

One thing came to mind*: The Greatest Fight Scene EVER.

The officer stated that very rarely do they catch taggers in the act and commended me for my actions, but not without chiding me of the lesson that I always forget in these situations: These kids could be concealing weapons—is it really worth it?

I say until Jack Bauer is back on the air satisfying my need for an adrenaline rush, then yes, yes it is.

*Okay, this one also came to mind as well.

2007 Santa Ana Shootings

Red Marker: Homicide | Yellow Marker: Shooting | Blue Marker: Shots Fired

Click Here to View Larger Map with Incident Details

This time of year, people like to write Christmas cards and make plans for New Year's Eve. I like to make interactive maps of tragic events that take place in this gang-infested town.

I'm still missing data from January through April, as well as the month of June, but I wanted to give you all an early Christmas present.

Creating this map was a very interesting learning experience. Here are a few things that I concluded about gang activity in Santa Ana while working on this project:

1. Even if you claim "nothing", you'll probably still get shot.


2. Bangers use all means of transportation to get their job done (Cars, bicycles, own two feet, although, I'd be really surprised to hear about a banger on roller skates).


3. Black SUV's tailgating you usually means bad news.


4. No one ever knows exactly how many gunshots were fired when asked by police.


5. Descriptions of suspects are always too vague.


6. You are more likely to be shot between the hours of 3PM-2AM in Santa Ana.
   

So yeah, Santa Ana is in dire need of a renaissance, but hope needs to begin with the people. And for these folks, hope maybe what they need to stop shooting at each other.

A Little Too Close to Home

View Larger Map

One of today's top headlines in the Santa Ana section of the OC Register is this article about how local Police and immigrant agents shut down an alleged heroin ring operating out of Rollin Auto Collision, which is just a few minutes walking distance away from our community.

I've seen some people near our community with the obvious track marks of a heroin user, but never suspected a drug ring operation to be in our backyard.

This town definitely needs an enema.

In Case of Boredom, Break Glass

Saturday night (12/08) between the hours of 6PM and 8:45PM, another community-owned fire extinguisher was stolen near 702 N. Santiago Street.

A short while back, the fire extinguisher next to 904 Poinsettia Street was being stolen on a weekly basis. Eventually, the extinguisher was relocated to a spot where potential thieves could easily be targeted, then beaten.

Hopefully once the lot across the street is redeveloped, the folks on N. Santiago Street will have someone watching their backs (er, fronts).

A police report was filed, given a case number of #0747174.

Thanks goes out to El Diablo Blanco for the heads up on this one.

Proof That There's Still Hope

Thursday night’s meeting had an awesome show of support from not only Santiago Street Loft residents, but from Santa Ana Police Department, Santa Ana's Community Development Agency, and many prominent leaders and friends from around the city.

The success of our development is key for the brighter future that awaits the city of Santa Ana. Proof of that was reflective in the support we received from the likes of community leaders from all over Santa Ana including: Councilwoman Michele Martinez, Thomas Anthony Gordon from The Orange Juice Blog, Carl Overmyer, President of the NRA Members Council of Orange representing WECOP, Julie Stroud of the Parks and Recreation Commission, Scott Kutner and Rafael Navejas from Santa Ana Community Development Agency, and Doug Irving from the Orange County Register.

Like Detective Eric Rivas said, our loft community is much like the early pioneers of the Old West in these rough lands. Every now and then, we will need to circle the bandwagons to watch each other’s back. Last night was a great example of such.

And while this was the first meeting between our loft community and the Santa Ana Police Department, the strength and survival of our community relies on it not being the last.

Special thanks to SAPD including: Corporal Matt Brown of Northeast Directed Patrol, Corporal Tino Gallo of Civic Center Patrol, Graffiti Detective Eric Rivas, Officer Mona Ruiz from the Graffiti Task Force and Police Service Officer Gabriela Alday for bringing this meeting together.

Police Meeting Tonight @ 6:30

Tonight, December 6th starting at 6:30PM, the Santa Ana Police Department will be hosting a community meeting specifically for residents of the Santiago Street Lofts, and any surrounding neighborhood communities.

The meeting will be taking place on the 5th floor in the Santa Ana Train Depot tower. Elevator access is available to the floor if needed.

Michele Martinez and Thomas Gordon have notified me that they will also be in attendance.

Original post available here.

Santiago Street Loft's First Police Meeting

Next Thursday, December 6th at 6:30PM, the Santa Ana Police Department will be hosting a community meeting specifically for residents of the Santiago Street Lofts, and any surrounding neighborhood communities.

The meeting will cover topics such as what type of suspicious activities to look out for, whom to call in different emergencies, crime statistics within our vicinity, and a special presentation from the Santa Ana Graffiti Task Force. At the conclusion of their presentation, the officers will be available for a question and answer session.

The meeting will be taking place on the 5th floor in the Santa Ana Train Depot tower. Elevator access is available to the floor if needed.

This is not only a great chance to learn about the problems concerning our neighborhood, but a terrific opportunity to meet and greet with your neighbors as well as local law enforcement.

Like Flies to a Rotting Carcass

The local taggers now smell blood after the events of this last Sunday. Open season has now begun on the Santiago Street Lofts.


Last night at 10:50PM, two hoodlums made their mark on the Urban West loft, the unit on the Southwest corner of Santiago Street and Santa Ana Boulevard.

While one stood as a lookout on the North side of the street, the other, with a can of white spray paint in hand, tagged the usual garbage tag that can be seen all over town.

A call was placed into SAPD at 10:51PM, but by the time officers arrived on the scene at 11PM, the vandals were long gone. Being that no one actually lives in the nicest unit in our complex (which also helps make that unit an easy mark too), no police report could be filed because there was no victim to come forward.

Some may ask why I make such a big deal about graffiti. Other than being a firm believer in the broken window theory (or etched window theory in our case), graffiti is the gateway for more serious crimes. Next comes petty theft like something goes missing from your garage or I don't know, like a plasma television being stolen. Oh wait.
After that will come the burglary of an actual residence and not a model home, then armed assault and robbery are shortly to follow.

Think I'm crazy or a little paranoid, perhaps. But in Santa Ana, you can never let your guard down.

A call was placed into Keystone Pacific's emergency hot line as of this morning informing them of what happened last night. Hopefully this recent vandalism incident will be cleaned up by the end of the day as requested to the operator.

Model Home Break-In

Last Thursday, November 8, Santa Ana CSI answered a burglary call in one of the model homes. Turns out that the thief/thieves were able to enter the garage door by breaking a glass pane at the top of the door, unlock the security latch, and headed straight for the plasma television on the second floor. Pretty clever if you ask me.

If you don't do so already, I would highly suggest locking the door that leads from your first floor to your garage. Those crooks sure went through a lot of work for a tv that wasn't even 1080p!

Scratchitti: It Sounds as Stupid as the Act

Sunday nights seem to be the night best night to go tagging. I can’t think of a better way to ruin someone’s week than to start his or her Monday off with some good old-fashioned vandalism.


Sometime last night after 9PM, the glass panes on the roll-up doors on multiple units facing Santa Ana Boulevard were etched. This morning, an Officer came out and after having to be asked to, took down a report (Case Number:07-43666).

Unfortunately people, we are alone in this battle. The City and Police are too busy with the many other problems that plague our City. When it comes to vandalism on our roll-up doors, the Association leaves that problem to the homeowner to fix. When any graffiti isn’t removed quickly enough, the neighborhood soon becomes subject to the Broken Window Theory. Santa Ana proves this theory as fact in my eyes.

So what can we do to try to prevent future vandalism?

• Keeping a light on doesn’t hurt. Giving the illusion of human presence could deter potential vandals.


• Look out the window every now and then. If you see something suspicious, call the Police.


• Go outside and walk around. 9PM on Sunday nights and our community looks like a ghost town.


• If you see graffiti, clean it up. Don’t expect someone else to do it.


• When taggers see graffiti stick around for a few days, they know it will be worth their time to come visit your area.


• Consider investing in products like Vandal Shield that acts as a sacrificial layer in the event of an etching.
  


• Enlist in the Ben Dayhoe Neighborhood Patrol Academy. If you can swing a sack of doorknobs, you’re in. You get a free sack, but you gotta supply your own knobs.

Perhaps at our next Association meeting, we should look into having the glass panes included in what the Association insures. I know for sure I, as well as many other residents would sleep better at night if that were the case.

On a side note, myself and a few other residents recently noticed three or four Hispanic teenagers hanging around the community as of late. They like to ride their bikes throughout the complex as well as after-hours in the Waterline parking lot, the building adjacent to the models (you know, the models that were also recently broken into). Coincidence? Perhaps. But it's never a bad idea to be aware of your surroundings.

Note: Please be respectful when posting your thoughts. I only mention race in this topic to help those who keep their eyes and ears open informed, not to start a race discussion. If the kids seen riding their bikes around the complex were Black, White or Asian, I would still use their race to fit their description. Everyone today is ultra-sensitive when it comes to race and there's always someone ready to pull the race card. Let's not forget that race is always a question asked by the Police when used to describe suspicious individual(s).

Thank you.

"Santa Ana Police, This Better Be Good."

I love my dog for many reasons. One of them is because she is so well house trained. When it's time for her to go outside to use the restroom, she tells me–even if it is 1:20 in the morning.

As usual, I brought my cell phone with me just in case I needed to phone the police (speed dial #9), and tonight was one of those nights. Being that Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year, most of the parties are taking place right now, beginning some 4-5 hours ago.

Walking the pooch, I noticed several cars fly by me at speeds close to 50mph in 25mph areas, while others were taking off from stop signs so fast, their tires screeched loudly for a few seconds until they were able to grab asphalt and bolt down the back streets. Then, there were the two dudes in a truck that were obviously drunk, speeding down Civic Center Drive.

I quickly grabbed my phone and placed a call to Santa Ana Police where I was greeted with the frequent "Unless you have been stabbed or shot, then I really don't give a f*ck" attitude from the operator. I gave her the location and direction of the offenders and asked if there were any units available, could they possibly check things out.

"No. We are really busy tonight so that's not possible." I then kindly asked her to see if any units would be returning from calls in nearby areas if they could just drive through to give a Police presence. "That's probably not going to happen, okay? Have a good night". Click.

Frustrated, I headed back to my house, disturbed with the thought that our property taxes due in the next week or so keeps quality employees like this on payroll.

I suppose the only half-way decent hourly employees at this time of night (morning) are the ones working at the 7-11's-and they seem to be the ones always getting robbed. Hopefully, when that time comes, their call to Santa Ana Police is met with a little more professionalism.