Gang Violence near Santa Barbara, CA
Principal: Gang violence spills onto LHS campus
By Neil Nisperos/Staff Writer
Lompoc High School principal Art Diaz testified in Superior Court Friday that gangs are a serious problem on his campus, intimidating and beating up other students.
Students have been harassed and attacked at school in an effort to force them to join gangs, Diaz said. Violent conflicts sometimes occur off camps, involving family and friends of gang members, then spill onto campus, he said.
Coincidentally, a gang-related fight broke out during lunchtime at Lompoc High just hours after Diaz testified in favor of a court injunction to restrict gang activity in Lompoc.
The District Attorney's office is trying to get an injunction to help law enforcement to control gang activities. In court Friday, some of the injunction wording was revised.
The hearing was continued and new court date will be decided Monday.
Diaz said that last year two students were harassed by gang members for the whole school year, creating tension throughout the campus and involving off-campus confrontations.
This year, he said, a student was beaten up for refusing to join a gang. And last Friday, a 16-year-old transfer student was involved in a fight that he said was caused because he had been harassed by gang members.
Diaz, who has had experience with a gang injunction when he was a principal in Oceanside, Calif., testified that he believed the proposed injunction would help police control gangs in Lompoc.
Students shouldn't have to live in fear on campus or off, he said.
"There was a prevailing fear and attitude that the students had to pick one side or another," Diaz said, recalling the atmosphere in Oceanside. "Physical and verbal confrontations at school were pretty commonplace."
After the injunction was imposed in Oceanside, Diaz said, students felt safer and fewer of them joined gangs.
"I'd like to say schools are a microcosm of the community and a common impact after the injunction is students didn't want to join a gang," he said. "They just wanted to go to school, be left alone and do their own thing. After the injunction more students did their own thing. The tone of the school changed. The students focused more on academics and they focused more on classes.
Diaz said he hopes the same will happen in Lompoc.
"Whatever happens in the community spills onto campus," Diaz said. "This injunction will have a positive effect on campus. The students need to feel safe on campus."
Lompoc police said they hope Iwasko will approve the injunction, a restraining order preventing gang members from congregating in a "safety zone" in the center of town, where much of the gang-related crime is committed.
The injunction would also prevent gang members from wearing gang-related clothing, intimidating people, including witnesses, and acting as lookouts to alert other gang members of approaching police patrols. A juvenile curfew would also be imposed for those under age 18.
There are about 300 gang members on file with Lompoc police, although only about 90 were identified in the court documents. The injunction was served on members of two rival Lompoc gangs, the Southsiders and Varrio Lamparas Primera, also known as the Westsiders.
By Neil Nisperos/Staff Writer
Lompoc High School principal Art Diaz testified in Superior Court Friday that gangs are a serious problem on his campus, intimidating and beating up other students.
Students have been harassed and attacked at school in an effort to force them to join gangs, Diaz said. Violent conflicts sometimes occur off camps, involving family and friends of gang members, then spill onto campus, he said.
Coincidentally, a gang-related fight broke out during lunchtime at Lompoc High just hours after Diaz testified in favor of a court injunction to restrict gang activity in Lompoc.
The District Attorney's office is trying to get an injunction to help law enforcement to control gang activities. In court Friday, some of the injunction wording was revised.
The hearing was continued and new court date will be decided Monday.
Diaz said that last year two students were harassed by gang members for the whole school year, creating tension throughout the campus and involving off-campus confrontations.
This year, he said, a student was beaten up for refusing to join a gang. And last Friday, a 16-year-old transfer student was involved in a fight that he said was caused because he had been harassed by gang members.
Diaz, who has had experience with a gang injunction when he was a principal in Oceanside, Calif., testified that he believed the proposed injunction would help police control gangs in Lompoc.
Students shouldn't have to live in fear on campus or off, he said.
"There was a prevailing fear and attitude that the students had to pick one side or another," Diaz said, recalling the atmosphere in Oceanside. "Physical and verbal confrontations at school were pretty commonplace."
After the injunction was imposed in Oceanside, Diaz said, students felt safer and fewer of them joined gangs.
"I'd like to say schools are a microcosm of the community and a common impact after the injunction is students didn't want to join a gang," he said. "They just wanted to go to school, be left alone and do their own thing. After the injunction more students did their own thing. The tone of the school changed. The students focused more on academics and they focused more on classes.
Diaz said he hopes the same will happen in Lompoc.
"Whatever happens in the community spills onto campus," Diaz said. "This injunction will have a positive effect on campus. The students need to feel safe on campus."
Lompoc police said they hope Iwasko will approve the injunction, a restraining order preventing gang members from congregating in a "safety zone" in the center of town, where much of the gang-related crime is committed.
The injunction would also prevent gang members from wearing gang-related clothing, intimidating people, including witnesses, and acting as lookouts to alert other gang members of approaching police patrols. A juvenile curfew would also be imposed for those under age 18.
There are about 300 gang members on file with Lompoc police, although only about 90 were identified in the court documents. The injunction was served on members of two rival Lompoc gangs, the Southsiders and Varrio Lamparas Primera, also known as the Westsiders.
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