Police probe whether ‘new’ gang has arrived
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Friday, October 23, 2009 11:35 AM PDT
ONTARIO — Ontario Police Department Capt. Mark Alexander admits he is frustrated regarding the recent spate of crime in Ontario, including several incidences of graffiti that occurred this last weekend that indicate a new group of individuals, unfamiliar to police, may be responsible.
Starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, the police department responded to about 14 graffiti reports in the southeast part of town where all types of property were tagged, including businesses, mail boxes, vehicles, utility signs, utility equipment, the Eastside Kiwanis Park fence and basketball court.
“Just a substantial amount of damage, so we’re investigating that,” he said. Currently OPD has no suspects and has made no arrests.
The graffiti could be called gang-related, but not in the typical sense, he said. That is because the vandalism is not the typical graffiti associated with known gangs in the area. Alexander said the city’s gang officer is working with resource officers to see if anybody can be identified.
The person or people responsible for the taggings do not appear to be associated with, or rivals of, any of the known gangs in the area, Alexander said, and could possibly belong to a new gang.
“It fits the definition of a gang, but it doesn’t really fit the description of what we’ve become accustomed to,” he said, adding it appears a group of individuals are doing this for different purposes than with other gangs.
He said some of the graffiti had the letters “SRV” included, which is not anything police have seen before. Alexander said the gangs the police are familiar with in the area are those that have a history coming out of California and Mexico, such as the Serranos, the 18th Street gang and the 13th Street gang, but this group is snot something that is established like those types of gangs.
“So, like I said, it’s something new to us, and we’re trying to figure out what this gang’s about, why they would be doing this,” he said.
Anybody who has any information on the graffiti should call the OPD tip line at (541) 881-3213.
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