SAN DIEGO – North Park resident David Wilk already was fed up with rowdy hustlers shooting dice in the park across from his apartment.
But then his neighbor took a beer bottle to the head when he asked two men not to sit on his car, and that was more than Wilk could take.

“I think that crime prevention is about stopping the little things,” said Wilk, a shipyard worker, who was spurred to attend a community forum last week with San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. “Stop the small things and you won't have the bigger problems.”

Such day-to-day frustration over crime and the lingering worries from October's wildfires will make public safety a leading issue as voters judge candidates for mayor, city attorney and the City Council on the June 3 ballot.

The contenders hold a range of visions for strengthening police enforcement and improving fire services.

For the Police Department, increasing staffing by shifting administrative officers to street duty, boosting pay and directing a portion of hotel-room taxes to cover additional law enforcement services are among candidates' ideas.
For the Fire-Rescue Department, candidates' recommendations include managing brush, establishing a regional firefighting agency, creating a trained volunteer fire service and requiring new roofs of homes near wild lands to be made of noncombustible materials.

For residents, public safety is about how secure they feel on streets or in their homes.

Police officials say their community policing strategy has helped reduce violent crime citywide each year since 2003. Crime dropped 2 percent in 2007 from the previous year.

Mayor Jerry Sanders credited the work of Lansdowne and police officers for the reduction and said the only role he played was to provide the funding needed to keep good people on the job. Last year, he pushed successfully for a 9 percent raise for police and said he will recommend another raise this year.

But gang-related crime is rising: It was up 23 percent last year. Most troubling is escalating gang-related homicides, which rose from 18 in 2006 to 28 last year.

Sanders said gang violence “goes up and down,” but that overall, homicides in the city are down.“I think our Police Department is doing a good job,” he said.

Businessman Steve Francis, who is challenging Sanders, said the increase in gang violence is a symptom of officers leaving the department, and he blames Sanders for the drain. In fiscal year 2007, 67 officers left the Police Department for other law enforcement jobs, and this fiscal year, 20 have departed, according to the San Diego Police Officers Association.

“The police officers I've talked to – and I've talked to a lot of them – say there have been dramatic cuts in specialized units,” Francis said. Sanders disputes this.

“The Police Department is still not being paid what the average is for Southern California,” Francis said. “The mayor didn't take on the tough issues and now we're paying the price.”

Executive Assistant Police Chief David Ramirez said reducing gang violence and cutting off the pipeline for new members are priorities. This fiscal year, the department added a six-person gang-suppression unit – bringing the total to four teams.

About 4,000 documented gang members live in San Diego, about one for every 300 residents. That number is down from a high of about 5,000 gang members about five years ago, said Lt. Andy Mills, who leads the gang detail. In Los Angeles, it's closer to one per 120 residents.

“If gang members commit a crime, we'll arrest them,” Ramirez said. “But we can't arrest our way out of this problem.”

With that in mind, the department created the position of gang-prevention officer to discourage joining gangs. Jason Scott, a 14-year police veteran, repeatedly visits teens who are showing interest in joining gangs in a slow, long-term approach to diversion.

“The problem is complex, and any program that does not have sustained involvement is merely for show,” Scott said.

As some San Diego communities wrestle with gang violence, others struggle with different problems.

In Pacific Beach, alcohol-related assaults are an issue as inebriated customers spill out of bars, said Mark Mitchell of the merchant association Discover Pacific Beach.

“We are saturated, saturated, saturated with bars,” said Ruby Houck, president of the Pacific Beach Town Council. “The problem is what happens when they leave the bars – DUIs, rape, fighting, vandalism.”

In the College Area, sexual assaults, car thefts and problems associated with gang members crashing parties are among the concerns, said Doug Case of the College Area Community Council.

City Heights is battling with homeless people who camp out in the community's many canyons, said Michael Sprague of the City Heights Town Council.

Kearny Mesa has a homeless problem of its own, with people sleeping in their vehicles outside the community's industrial and commercial buildings at night, said Buzz Gibbs of the Kearny Mesa Community Planning Group.

Derryl Williams of the Encanto Community Planning Group said burglaries committed by gangs are a source of fear.

For other communities, fire safety is the top public safety issue, especially in Rancho Bernardo, which was hit hard by October's wildfires.

Francis said he would create a citywide fire district and borrow money against its tax revenue to build 20 fire stations.

Sanders said a tax increase is not the answer. He said he would find other ways to obtain new equipment for the Fire-Rescue Department and would identify what upgrades are needed and draft a plan to get them.

Jim Denton, former chairman of the Rancho Bernardo Community Planning Board, said the community has landscaping districts that keep vegetation pruned so it doesn't become fuel for a fire. But with the memory of the wildfires so fresh, some believe more needs to be done, he said.

“Some residents are still paranoid,” he said.

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Ronald W. Powell: (619) 718-5070; ron.powell@uniontrib.com

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