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Confronting north county gangs – finally

September 1, 2011

Lisa Solomon

By DANIEL BLACKBURN

Following years of publicly understating, even concealing, criminal gang activity and influence in the north county, a depleted Paso Robles police department now will be working with multiple law enforcement agencies to address what officials call “a surge of violence” by local and outside gang activity.

Paso Robles Police Chief Lisa Solomon and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson will announce on Friday formation of a program dubbed “Safe Streets,” described as a “series of operations to identify, contact, and arrest gang members, and to impact drug-related crimes in the entire north county area.”

Solomon said “a recent rash of violent crime” in Paso Robles prompted what she described in a joint statement as “the need for a comprehensive plan” to address a growing problem with gang-related criminal activities.

Most recent of these incidents was Aug. 24, when at least one person was shot in an alleged drug deal gone bad in the northern section of Paso Robles. Local police have not mentioned gangs, nor attributed the shooting to gang members, in information released to the media to date.

Sources have told CalCoastNews, however, that several members of a Five Cities gang drove to Paso Robles, apparently to sell drugs in the north city, and the attack occurred as a result of that activity. Witnesses reported seeing a late-model white Chevrolet SUV leaving the scene that police said might be involved.

Numerous gang problems occur each year at public gatherings such as the Mid-State Fair – both inside and outside the venue – but are rarely acknowledged by authorities or reported by the local media.

In his written statement regarding “Safe Streets,” Parkinson insisted he does “not intend to allow this kind of activity in the north county. We will bring together all resources at my disposal and introduce additional law enforcement partners, including the FBI, California Highway Patrol, Monterey County Sheriff’s Department, Probation & Parole, as well as enhancing our local gang task force.”

Leveraging law enforcement capabilities will allow officials to “treat in a regional way the entire north county” with an operation that will remain intact indefinitely, the officials said.

The Paso Robles Police Department has been decimated over the past few years; city officials hoped to have 46 sworn officers by 2008, but today there are only 27. Within the department there now is no D.A.R.E. program; no motorcycle officers (with two new BMW cycles sitting idle); no traffic unit; no gang unit; and no narcotics team. Only two detectives remain.


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What about the BIGGEST gang, GOVERNMENT???


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Some folks don’t buy it, eh? Take a good look at government corruption. Take a good hard look:


Pentagon Wasted $12 Million a Day for 10 Years on War Contracting

Friday, September 02, 2011


http://www.allgov.com/Home


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The stories of corruption in our gangster state just keep comin’. And we worry about gangbangers in baggy pants when we should be worrying a lot more about gangbangers in Brooks Brothers suits!:


US: War spending fraud study shows that $60 billion has been pilfered out of a budget of $206 billion (29% stolen) for contracting alone in Iraq & Afghanistan over the last decade How much more through military theft is unknown.

Yahoo 2011 Aug 31


http://news.yahoo.com/panel-widespread-waste-fraud-war-spending-053533054.html


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Yessir you are EXACTLY right. This is the best way for them to get away with it to, distract people by creating bogeyman out of something that is not well understood and feared by the average citizen. Suddenly the dirty cops that people are worried about become heroes, and the real thieves get away with it.


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Well said, mkaney, you get it. As you say, we are “being fed” what to think. How true. In any case, the criminal activities of the well dressed gangbangers dwarf their local, unsophisticated, gritty, brethren by many orders of magnitude. Right now, most folks are looking at the situation through the wrong end of the telescope. Turn the instrument around guys, if you would know the truth. So often, knowing the truth is not comforting to us; that’s why so many of us would prefer not to know about it. But we must face it rather than succumb to distractions, “bogeymen,” “terrorists,” and other imaginary figures cooked up in some little known institute full of Ph.D.’s in psychology financed by the government.


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Great, This is an excellent move and it’s definitely past the time to take some serious action. STOMP out those gangs, do whatever it takes, I don’t think you will hear anyone complaining about excessive force. STOMP THEM OUT.


As far as I’m concerned, if you’re a gang banger, then you have no rights. You gave those rights up when you decided to trample all over the city and neighborhoods that you seek to control, you little punks. I hope the cop’s literally kick your — all the way to LA and teach you which gang really rules.


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Bravo cindy…


Too little too late, I say. They are here and like fleas very hard to get rid of once established.

The counties to the north, south and east of us are rampant with gangs and little was done, now those gangs are coming here to recruit and do their crimes. It is time for all legal citizens to step and say enough is enough.

And for those who think there is nothing we can do, there is plenty we can do:

Sign up for neighborhood watch (It’s your neighborhood not theirs).

Call LEO anytime you see any gang activity or tagging ( just like dogs they will continue to mark their territory unless stopped and it’s not their neighborhood).

Call LEO anytime you see dopers doping or sales being done.

Take steps to not become prey and appear vulnerable( lock your home, your car and be armed)


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Pure ignorance. It is not that these gangs are the cause of all their associated problems. The PROBLEM is poverty, lack of education, and difficulty assimilating into the local and national culture, the CONSEQUENCE is crime and gang related activity. All levels of society have some level of gang activity, though it’s generally not criminal. We’re all members of the biggest gang on the block, the “Americans” and if you shoot one of our homies, we’ll burn your whole city to the ground.


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It amazes me that the contributing social factors are so consistently ignored.


Jobs? Education? A hopeful future? What do we need those for? People tend to adopt the lifestyle that works “best” for them.


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I will discuss this article and this morning’s press conference at Paso PD — where Solomon and Ian Parkinson announced their “Safe Steets” program — on Dave Congalton’s 920 KVEC Home Town Radio show at 5:05 p.m.


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We know what the problems are and can all talk about this all day long. Anyone have any suggestions of what the residents of the city can do?


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1) Fire Jim App.

2) Fire Lisa Solomon Chitty.

3) Replace #1 and #2 with competent, honest, humble leaders


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A city like Paso deserves so much more than an unqualified police chief like Lisa Solomon. Unfortunately she is merely a symptom of the underlying rot existing in Paso. A weak city council that constantly gets manipulated by city manager Jim App, leads to hiriing department heads that will “play ball” with App.


Solomon knows that Paso is the only city police dept she’ll ever lead and App gets a deferential/compliant police chief more concerned with adding years to an eventual high pension than confronting the tough challenges the community is facing.


Paso people need to rise up and get a real council that will bounce their overpaid, secretive, ineffective city administration and get people that care about the community more than their salaries and pensions.


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LE funding, The easiest tax funding to get, maintain, increase, justify, unquestion, create, always has been.

It does not stop there, it ripples geometrically more in the system.

Will her pension be as much as the SLO Chief?


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Amazing, Chief Lisa Soloman “confronting No. County gangs”! Isn’t SHE the same INEPT Chief Solomon who left her handgun in her vehicle only to have it STOLEN? This DOLT calls herself “Chief of Police”??? That’s a JOKE…Again, she lacks TRAINING…


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Don’t forget, RU4Real, that her handgun was LOADED and left in her UNLOCKED vehicle. Another example of do as I say, not as I do…”


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MKANEY, the issue is not people using drugs so much as the violence. You say drugs have always been dealt in Paso, but we didn’t have shootings and such to this degree in the past. The UPPER MIDDLE CLASS harangue is BS. Get a life. I realize your condition is probably attributable to genetics. You’re a liberal and your brain is geared such, so it doesn’t do any good to argue with you rationally. I think a vigilant committee of gun owners need to make periodic sweeps of the parts of town with acute problems and send the message: Paso law abiding citizens won’t put up with this and will act.


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I am absolutely not a “liberal.” I’m farther to the right than you can probably even comprehend. But since you shared your assumption about me, let me share an assumption with you. Paso Robles is filled with a large populations ass backwards rednecks (I don’t mean conservatives, i mean REDNECKS) and they will JUMP on any chance they get to take out their racist ire on as many “they took RRRRR jobs” Mexicans as they possibly can.


By the way, who do you think these supposed gang members sell the drugs to? Do you think poor people can afford large quantities of drugs? Think again. Now every Mexican kid that is guilty of the same exact thing some white kid is, is going to get an extra 5 years in prison for some sort of guilt by association.


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Here’s a wake up call for all of you who are concerned about the rise in drugs and gangs.. especially you, SLOBIRD. Drug use is not “rising” in our community. Drugs have always been widely available in this area and the biggest users are not the guys who are gang bangin’ or homeless junkies. The biggest users are the WHITE UPPER MIDDLE CLASS people and their children. Now how is it that drugs are responsible for turning all these people into gangbangers and losers, when they didn’t destroy the entire area and community before? Do you think it’s possible that with a rise in enforcement, which is brought on by stereotyping and biased “intelligence” about alleged gang activity and the fact that poor people can’t afford good lawyers, maybe there is a rise in problems associated with drugs, thus reinforcing the original perception.


Maybe when people are talking about these run down crime-ridden cities that we don’t want to become like, they don’t realize that sentiment iis actually responsible for such an outcome. If you have a kid who is Mexican and maybe his brother or best friend are in a gang, and the gang task forces are keeping tabs on these kids, then there is a dramatically increased chance this kid is going to get caught doing something. Whereas when encountering a white kid, they don’t even pay attention to him, so he gets away with the same thing. Just some food for thought.


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MKaney. You are tracking about 10 years behind the times, and you obviously do not live in Paso. You really don’t have a clue. Drive up to Greenfield or King City. Those towns are two examples of what we do not want Paso to be like in the future.


Do you honestly think that Hispanic families want their kids to get involved in gangs or drug dealing. Controlling the influence of gangs will help them keep their families safe.


White, middle class kids are the major drug users?–you are talking about SLO, not Paso.


If you want to help, get SLO to build their fair share of section 8 housing, or maybe you can advocate for SLO becoming a sanctuary city for gangs.


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I enjoy classic films, including westerns like High Noon. The bad guys will ride into a small town, planning to rob a bank or do some harm… They’ll hang around, trying to get a feel for the place–including what the local sheriff’s like. Is he tough? Is he someone to mess with? Sometimes the outlaws will just keep riding by because they know the local top cop will kick the $#%^ outta them.


Unfortunately for Paso, we have Lisa Solomon Chitty in charge and she’s a horrible police chief….no Gary Cooper, that’s for sure! If I were a gang-banger from Salinas or a druggie from LA, I’d choose Paso for some dirty deeds.


Chief Lisa is not a strong, competent law enforcement leader that will strike fear in the hearts of loser criminals. One look at her in a low-cut evening gown, schmoozing & swaying to the music and trying to sing… well, it’s laughable at best. But more seriously, criminals sense weakness and vulnerability. Paso’s rising crime rate shows that the bad guys sense that they can–and DO–get away w/stuff here–multiple stabbings, shootings, massive graffiti… it’s not really “darn near paradise” anymore!


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