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[LS Tribune] Inside the war room: The LSSD Operation Safe Streets' battle against gang crime intensifies during summer violent crime wave


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Inside the war room: The LSSD Operation Safe Streets' battle against gang crime intensifies during summer violent crime spike

As gang violence stemming from groups such as the Segundo Village Swan Bloods spikes during this summer period, we look inside the LSSD's gang unit (Operation Safe Streets) to see what the situation is like for those on the front-lines 

 

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By PHOEBE HOLTER

 


 

LOS SANTOS - Across America’s many sprawling cities, summertime has been long noted to coincide with an increase in violent crime. Los Santos, already suffering from one of the highest crime rates in the country, is no exception to this nationwide trend. 

 

Tracking and responding to this spike from their hectic office at the Davis Sheriff's Station (known to some in the department as “The Bunker”), the team who make up the Operation Safe Streets detail (effectively, the gang unit) of the Los Santos Sheriff's Department are acutely aware of the situation unfolding across the city's many gang hotspots.

 

“Many of these gang shootings occur during and after parties” explained OSS Sgt. G. Hakobyan. “It's the perfect chance to go ahead and shoot at a crowd of people for them.”

 

 “The heat, everyone being outside. Recipe for disaster,” - OSS Lt. G. Ruiz

 

 

One of those hotspots is the area surrounding the Davis Sheriff's Station itself, which OSS Det. Jonathan Medina described as suffering a “dramatic spike” in gang activity. Fuelling this increase is the activity of nearby gangs such as Segundo Village Swan Bloods, understood to be one of the primary targets of the OSS team's work.

 

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Lt. G. Ruiz, Det. Jonathan Medina and Sgt. G. Hakobyan stand in front of the OSS insignia in their office

 

The Segundo Village Swan Bloods, who also refer to themselves as the “Byrd Gang” or “Swan Gang” are, according to OSS Det. Jonathan Medina "an amalgamation of two swan sets, Main Street Swans and Mad Swans." It is understood that at this moment they are one of the most active and dangerous gangs in the area according to the OSS team. “They have to be the most violent gang in the zone … we get calls about them every night,” Det. Jonathan Medina shared.

 

Ongoing feuds with neighbouring gangs make up part of the violence groups like the Segundo Village Swan Bloods are involved in. A notable rival gang that is understood to be feuding with the so-called "Swan Gang" are 89 East Coast Crips from nearby Jamestown Street, who commonly refer to themselves as “Coast Gang”. “That [feud] comes from the general Bloods and Crips rivalry that came to fruition in the late eighties and early nineties,” OSS Lt. G. Ruiz explained. 

 

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Alleged Segundo Village Swans member after allegedly being jumped by rival gang earlier this month, courtesy of Hood Tapez on Facebrowser

 

But the gang hotspots in the city, as many will know, expand past the immediate surroundings of the Davis Sheriff's Station and encompass a larger set of gangs than those already mentioned and other nearby street gangs such as Playboys 13. The team from Operation Safe Streets currently track and monitor gangs across an expansive area, which encompasses the predominantly white skinhead and peckerwood gangs that are often around the Vespucci Beach area to other groups such as Maravilla gangs found in East Los Santos. “We follow trends in the various gang areas in South Central. Rancho, Davis, Strawberry, Chamberlain Hills, Tortilla Flats, all of east Los Santos, and Vespucci Beach”, OSS Lt. G. Ruiz explained, signalling towards the detailed gang map the team uses in their office.

 

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Interaction between LSSD OSS detail and individuals believed to be members of the East Coast Crips

 

Tracking and identification is done by a number of methods. Monitoring online beef on platforms such as Facebrowser, deciphering the often esoteric appearing gang graffiti located around gang hotspots and of course, maintaining a ground presence and having that presence be felt in local gangs. OSS Det. Jonathan Medina described this as a “proactive” approach and commented that by keeping a watchful eye on gang activity and the a record of the identification of gang members, the unit can sometimes “intercept gang crimes before they even occur”. 

 

It is this method of tracking that allows the Operation Safe Streets team to pick out what they see as the most active threats in terms of gang violence. This, according to OSS Lt. G. Ruiz differs from their counterparts in the Los Santos Police Department’s gang unit, which does not take such an approach with such targeted precision. 

 

“The difference between our gang enforcement methodology and the LSPD's is... we focus all our efforts on the most dangerous gangs in an area, rather than all of them.” - OSS Lt. G. Ruiz

 

Information gathering can be more difficult in some cases. Specific difficulties lie with specific gangs, as gang behavior generally varies from group to group. OSS Det. J. Moss, explained that tracking white skinhead gangs can be more difficult, as they operate in a more organized and secluded fashion in comparison to the other gangs found around the city. He also noted that they often tend to be more brutal in their violence, when they do eventually emerge from hiding: "skinheads tend to be more violent with the crimes they commit though, they really like to make an impact".

 

“Well, the [white gangs] have always been harder to track since they're more organized and have better connections. They're a scary thing to deal with if you aren't prepared, but we are. They like to cause a ruckus and then go into hiding, but we're getting better at getting on their tail.” - OSS Det. J. Moss

 

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Members of the LSSD's Operation Safe Streets unit head for the Davis Sherriff's Station

 

As we approach September, summer is winding up and with the cooler weather, it is hoped that the violence we're seeing will climb down from this current peak. But lower temperatures will not solve the issues with gang crime that Los Santos faces. While a 10% or 20% decrease in violent crime may provide some temporary relief at least in the volume of work that the Operation Safe Streets detail has to deal with, the unit is busy all year round facing what is a known and serious problem in the city and the state. A seemingly permanent issue, endemic to certain areas of the city that has a broad, destructive impact on local communities and the lives of those affected by it. 

 

But for those like Lt. G. Ruiz, Det. J. Moss, Det. N. Ortega, Det. Jonathan Medina, Sgt. G. Hakobyan and the rest of the busy team  in the office of the Operation Safe Streets detail, the war (and all the dangers that come with it) continues.

 

 

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(( /banktransfer amount Phoebe Holter LST Donation ))

 

 

What are your thoughts on this summer's crime wave? Share them below.

 

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Username: Phoebe Holter (Author)

Comment: Thanks to everyone on the detail for having me along again. Special thanks to Detective Jonathan Medina for making this all work.

This is part of a two part special on my most recent time spent with the guys from Operation Safe Streets. The second part will be more a reflection on what I saw during my time with the team, rather than the current crime wave we're seeing. 

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Username: FatDinkles42

Comment: These men enforce unconstitutional gun laws "legislated" by the State and (((Federal Goverment))) in order to enslave the black, brown, and white man. ALL MINORITIES IN THESE NEIGHBORHOODS SHOULD POSSESS & BEAR FULL AUTO FIREARMS TO COUNTERACT THE ROTHCHILD'S ATTEMPTS AT GLOBAL HARMONIZATION UNDER ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT. The Sheriff's Department will NOT appreciate my comments and if they wish to arrest me for SPEAKING THE TRUTH I shall meet them on any equal field and shoot it out to the death with my 15.9" barrel AR-15. J A C K B O O T T H U G S

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