Homicides Becomming A Thing Of The Past In Compton

Compton known for it's hard-gritty get down is
having a face lift thanks to the L.A. Sheriff's
department. All the bad guys are either in jail
or have left town. Most of those in jail will eventually
be released someday and return to their old stomping
grounds. Will it be business as usual again? Well
that would depend on what kind of rehabilitation these
people get inside. But for right now the residents of Compton
are sleeping a little easier at night and having a lot less
funerals to attend.


Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies used to brace for trouble each time they pulled into a cluster of apartment buildings on South Grandee Avenue near the Compton airport. It's a cul-de-sac where they could be easily cornered by gang members

But on a recent Friday night, deputies Jose Sandoval and Larry Waldie spotted only a few teenage girls who didn't appear to be causing trouble. There were no gang members in sight.

Gang violence has plummeted in Compton in the nearly two years since Sheriff Lee Baca assigned a team of deputies and detectives to turn back a menacing tide of crime as part of the department's contract to patrol the mid-county city. With 29 homicides to date, the city is on pace to have the lowest number of killings in more than two decades.

"Six months ago when we'd go in there, it was wall-to-wall knuckleheads," said Lt. Paul Pietrantoni, who supervises the Compton antigang task force. "Now they're all in prison."

Baca's decision to beef up the Compton policing effort was unusual. As a city that contracts for sheriff's services, Compton gets only as many deputies as city officials are willing to pay for. And they couldn't afford the cost -- which would have run millions of dollars a year -- that would have accompanied the 28 sworn personnel Baca sent to the city. So the sheriff decided not to charge for the additional resources, pulling deputies out of other assignments within the nation's largest sheriff's department.

At the time, gang violence in Compton was rampant, with 65 homicides in 2005. Baca said he viewed the violence as "an emerging social disaster."

"It's our responsibility to not let any part of the county deteriorate," Baca said. "I see this as a social responsibility."





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