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Roy-Lowenstein Boulevard is a major east-west street in Los Santos County, San Andreas, spanning from the Los Santos neighborhood of Davis to the north, and Rancho to the south. A short, unconnected continuation of Roy-Lowenstein Boulevard just south of Little Bighorn Avenue in Rancho to Dutch London Street in Rancho. The street is named for Actor Roy Lowenstein (1923 - September 29, 1997), actor out of Vinewood, San Andreas from 1945-1979, who also oversaw the production of the Mickey Mouse comic books. Roy-Lowenstein was originally called Calle de los Caballos (or Horses Street). Later in the 1880s became known as "Ruby Street". Roy-Lowenstein street was a few blocks west of Ruby but joined Ruby Street further south. Ruby Street was changed to Roy-Lowenstein and the northern portion of the old Roy-Lowenstein Street was renamed Mac Donald Street. The section of what is now Roy Lowenstein in the Rancho District above Jamestown Street was known as "Segundo Avenue" until Roy-Lowenstein was extended through North Rancho. The portion of what is now Roy-Lowenstein facing the Los Santos River and Little Bighorn Avenue was originally known as Innocence Boulevard until the Boulevard was pushed North towards Strawberry. Prior to the construction of Olympic Freeway, Roy-Lowenstein Boulevard carried U.S. Route 9 to La Puerta Freeway east-to-west from the Six-Level Interchange. The boulevard splits the Davis neighborhood in southern Los Santos, San Andreas from Rancho located in the South Los Santos region. Rancho was founded in the late nineteenth century as a ranching community, the arrival of the railroads and the construction of Rancho Station saw the rapid development of Rancho as an independent city, but in 1926 it was consolidated with Los Santos. By the 1940s, Rancho transformed into primarily working class African-American neighborhood, but from the 1960s developed a reputation as a low-income, high-crime area, following the Rancho riots and the increasing influence of street gangs. Rancho has become a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood with a significant African American minority, and remains one of the most impoverished neighborhoods In Los Santos despite falling crime rates since the 1990s. Notable civic activities by residents of Rancho include the "Toys for Rancho" toy drive, the Rancho Christmas parade, and the "Rancho Summer Games" athletic tournament, as well as a local theatre and a dance company, in an effort to improve the neighborhood. Rancho is noted internationally for the landmark Rancho Towers by Simon McCroskey, which are a Los Santos Historic-Cultural Monument and also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood has also been featured or referenced in numerous forms of media, particularly West Coast hip-hop music, and movies and television shows set in Los Santos. The area now known as Rancho is located on the 1843 La finca de Alberto Mexican land grant. As on all ranchos, the principal vocation at the time was grazing and beef production. With the influx of European American settlers into Southern Andreas in the 1870s, Alberto land was sold off and subdivided for smaller farms and homes, including a 220-acre (89 ha) parcel purchased by Charles H. Rancho in 1886 for alfalfa and livestock farming. In those days each Alberto farm had an artesian well. The Arrival of the railroad spurred the settlement and development of the area. Most of the first residents were the traqueros, Mexican and Mexican American rail workers who constructed and maintained the new rail lines. With this new growth, Rancho was incorporated as a separate city, taking its name from the first railroad, Rancho Station, which had been built in 1904 on 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land donated by the Rancho family. The city voted to merge with Los Santo in 1926. Rancho did not become predominantly black until the late 1940s, after the second World War, areas were plotted specifically for minority families. Before then, there were some African American residents, many of whom were Freeman car porters and cooks. Schoolroom photos from 1909 and 1911 show only two or three black faces among the 30 or so children pictured. By 1914, a black realtor, Jackson S. Moore, was doing business in the area. Racially restrictive covenants prevented blacks from living in any other neighborhood outside of Forum Drive District and Rancho. World War II brought the Second Great Migration, tens of thousands of African American migrants, mostly from Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas, who left segregated Southern states in search of better opportunities in San Andreas. During World War II, the city built several large housing projects (including Rancho projects) for the thousands of new workers in war industries. By the early 1960s , these projects had become nearly 100 percent black, as whites moved on to new suburbs outside the central city. As industrial jobs disappeared from the area, the projects housed many more poor families than they had traditionally. Long standing resentment by Los Santo's working class black community over discriminatory treatment by police and inadequate public services (especially schools and hospitals) exploded on August 11, 1965, into what were commonly known as the Rancho Riots. The event that precipitated the disturbances, the arrest of a black youth by the San Andreas Highway Patrol on drunk-driving charges, actually occurred outside of Rancho. Rancho suffered further in the 1970s, as gangs gained strength and raised the level of violence in the neighborhood. Between 1989 and 2005, police reported more than 500 homicides in Rancho, most of them gang-related and tied to wars over control of the lucrative illicit market created by illegal drugs. Four of Rancho's influential gangs— Rancho 13, Main Street Mafia Crips, Grape Street Crips, Avalon Gangster Crips, and Traviesos 13. Beginning in the 1980s, those African Americans who could leave Rancho moved to other suburban locations in the Paleto Valley, the Outward Empire, the Vinewood Valley, Paleto Bay, and the Del Perro area. The black population in Rancho has been increasingly replaced by other demographic groups, primarily Hispanic immigrants of Mexican and Central American ancestry, as well as by a median proportion of Ethiopian and Indian ancestry. This demographic change accelerated after the 1992 riots. Neighborhood leaders have begun a strategy to overcome Ranchos's reputation as a violence-prone and impoverished area. Special promotions has been given to the museums and art galleries in the area surrounding Rancho Towers. This sculptural and architectural landmark has attracted many artists and professionals to the area. I Built the Tower, a feature-length documentary film about the Rancho Towers and their creator, Simon McCroskey, provides a history of Rancho from the 1920s to the present and a record of the activities of the Rancho Towers Arts Center. Rancho is one of several Los Santos neighborhoods with a high concentration of convicted felons. In 2000, singer and actor Davante Poole chartered a foundation to build a community center in Rancho. In present times, Rancho is ranked 13 in terms of crime rate in the Los Santos area, a decrease from previous years. There are hundreds of different gangs in los Santos. L.S. has more gang activity, homicides, specifically, than any other city in the United States, according to a 2012 report by the CDC; and, while gang activity ha decreased since its peak a decade ago, gang violence, is a major problem. Many gangs are involved with the drug trade and/or other criminal enterprises. Los Santos gangs are divided along neighborhood and ethnic lines; this is a common "territory" and assertion of power, regardless of urban area being discussed. It is important to note that in some cases, gang activity and organized crime activity do intersect and feed off one another; these are not always mutually exclusive entities. Specifically racial and socio-economic tension in Rancho has culminated in riots on many different occasions. As early as the 1800s, racial tension between ethnic groups resulted in violence. More recently, the Rancho Riots and LS Riots illustrated the powder-keg result of racial and socio-economic tensions. Rancho has also experienced in support or protest of various current events. Many hate crimes have been committed in Rancho. Rancho Crime peaked in the early 1990s; culminating in 1992 with the highest homicide rates on record and the LS riots. The high level of crime during this time period is attributed to the rise of crack cocaine use and distribution, and related gang activity. Gun violence and homicides were at extraordinary high levels, particularly in the economically depressed neighborhood. Rancho saw a decline in violent crime during the last decade. Policy makers debate whether this is due to changes in policing, incarceration laws, or demographic change in the city. It may also be part of natural low-crime cycle a other large cities, such a Liberty City and Vice City have also seen similar changes. The Los Santos Sherriff Department ha faced a number of controversies over the years; having been involved in a number of controversies centered around accusations of use of excessive force, corruption and racial discrimination. Federal oversight of the department, sparked by the Lorenzo scandal, officially ended in early 2013, ushering a new era for the LSSD. Tagging suspects caught on camera amid growing graffiti problem in South LS Rancho, Los Santos (LSN)— Gang member going around South Los Santos and tagging buildings is becoming a major problem. The most recent incident was caught on camera, and residents said they are frustrated. Video shows a brazen crime in broad daylight as a suspected gang member tags a fence. Angry residents living near Roy-Lowenstein and Innocence boulevard, many of whom were too afraid to go on camera, said the graffiti is a growing concern around residential buildings, commercial structures and public schools are all being targeted. Neighbors said over the last three weeks, gang activity and tagging increased significantly. They added that as soon as they paint over the graffiti, it is back in a matter of hours. "All the neighbors in the area are pretty frustrated at the situation. We've contacted the city and it seems like the city hasn't done anything about it," said one resident. Many said they hope the surveillance video will be able to help catch at least two of the taggers. With so much graffiti across the city and many gang members, it is a tough war to win in areas like Roy Lowenstein and Innocence - a hot spot for the Los Santos Sherriff Department's gang enforcement detail. Sgt. Maxwell Carter of the LSSD said the department is doing the best it can with its limited resources. "There's a number of gangs that associate with that one area, so each of them are trying to tag over each other to claim their territory. So, like I said, we do the best we can to go through different alleyways and just work the neighborhood and the schools,' he said. It might seem like no big-deal how much of a penalty could someone face for a little paint? However graffiti can be considered vandalism, and, depending on the extent of property damage, it may be charged as a felony offense. Police are searching for as many as five men who ran from the scene. Investigators say they were last seen wearing dark colored clothing and fled westbound on foot toward Davis-Strawberry district. Police are asking for the public's help tracking them down. Call the LSPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-122-TIPS (5122) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (85957). You can also submit tips by visiting the CrimeStoppers website at crimestoppers.lspdonline.org or by messaging on FaceBrowser @LSPDTips. Criminal activity can be divided into two basic categories; property and violent crimes. Violent crimes include things like assault and weapons offenses while property crimes do not involve a means of threatening to accomplish the crime. This is why robbery is not classified as a property crime. By its very definition, robbery involves theft by means of force, violence or threatened force or violence. Law enforcement makes millions of arrests every year. In 2010, over 13 million arrests were made. Just over 500,000 of these were violent crime arrests while over one million were property crimes. Some of the most common types of property crimes include: Burglary, Theft, Grand Theft Auto, Arson, Vandalism. This is by no means an extensive list of all things that are considered property crime. Because Los Santos has a statistically higher crime rate than a majority of other cities in the state of San Andreas, law enforcement will heavily patrol for property crime. There are anywhere from 80,000 and 90,000 property crimes in the city of Los Santos every year. The total number of property crime far outnumbers the amount of annual violent crimes. Going by these statistics, the city of Los Santos scores about a 29 on the crime rate scale, meaning crimes are committed more often than in 71 percent of other cities in the U.S. Certain cities and neighborhoods within the Los Santos boundaries are more likely to experience a high rate of property crime than others. For example, cities such as Davis, Rancho, El Burro Heights, East Vinewood, and Korea Town. Last year, property crime fell; there were fewer burglaries and larcenies. And there were fewer reported drug crimes. But in most cities, including Los Santos, violent crime went up. There were more than 350 murders in L.S. last year, a 38 percent increase from 2019. And the trend appears to be continuing. The LSPD reports that in the first 24 weeks of 2022, reports of shots were up 48 percent. The number of people wounded by gun violence was up 50 percent. And homicides were up 26 percent. Los Santos is on track to record 437 murders this year, the most since 2006. "It's a puzzle," says Matthew Porter, a University of Vice law professor who runs the City Crime Stats website. "I think a lot of people are trying to understand it. I haven't seen anything compelling that fully nails it." Captain Davis Williams ran the Los Santos Police Department's COMPSTAT division until this past April. Williams spent much of 2021 trying to figure out what was behind the rise in killings. Some were quick to blame the spike on fentanyl. But, says Williams, homicides and aggravated assaults were up in the first two months of 2021, before the influx of fentanyl took hold of the U.S. When fentanyl was taken off the street, a large drop in property crime, accompanied by a smaller drop in violent crimes occurred. The SLV krew (Stabbin Lames Viciously) is a now defunct tagging crew that was extremely popular in the early 2000s for having an extreme amount of physical presence in the Rancho area. Specifically the surrounding area of the Roy-Lowenstein Motel served as a headquarters for the SLV krew. The SLV krew was an exclusively Hispanic tagging crew before being absorbed by the neighborhood gang Sagrado Gunners 13. The leader of SLV whose name was Damian Lopez was killed after the inception of SLV. Lopez was murdered in 2003 after being caught in gang territory and speculation points towards the Florencia 13 gang of being the culprits. No individual has been charged for his crime, as the murder has gained national exposure after a documentary on tag-banging highlighted the situation as a point proving that tag-gangs should be considered actual street-gangs due to the conflicts that can be created when tag-bangers decide to "strike" up gang graffiti. After the murder of Lopez tensions between SLV and F13 immediately sky-rocketed as multiple shootouts in the area were reported. It was never confirmed if the shootings were a direct response to Lopez being murdered. During 2008 members of the SLV krew were allegedly involved in a large shootout on Jamestown Street. The SLV krew had been fighting with a local faction of Florencia 13 who had targeted them specifically for tagging in their neighborhoods. The shooting took the life of Anthony Rodriguez a documented gang-member of Florencia 13. In response to the shooting it is speculated that members of Sagrado Gunners 13 forced the tagging crew to immediately join sides with SG13 and commit crimes to further the criminal enterprise SG13 had created in the Roy Lowenstein area. The BNE krew (Brown N Evil) is a small tagging crew based in the Roy Lowenstein area. Within recent years, LSSD and LSPD have noticed an increasing trend of "tag bangers". The word "tag-banger" is a mixture of both gang-banging and tagging. With a large number of street gangs within Los Santos County, tagger crews are often absorbed into gangs or resist the gangs and function as a gang on their own. Many tagger crews, including BNE function as a gang, carrying guns and behaving violently. Although not confirmed, the BNE crew is suspected to have started sometime around 2010 by a group of Roy Lowenstein youngsters. The most popular artist within the crew went by the name of 'Sludge', who is also recognized as the leader of the BNE crew. Sludge's artwork plagued the walls all over Los Santos up until 2017 when he was killed. Sludge got into a dispute with a member of the Mainstreet Mafia Crips the night before his death, the following night Sludge was bombing a wall when the Mafia Crip shot him three times in the back, ending his life. Since the death of Sludge, BNE has been noted by law enforcement to behave more like a gang than taggers, they have a large presence on Roy Lowenstein and surrounding areas. Members are almost always packing a firearm on their person, as well as being violent not only towards law enforcement but civilians too. BNE continues to be on the radar of LSPD and LSSD gang sub-divisions.