Santa Ana Is Singled Out as Place to Avoid

If there’s one place that people avoid in Orange County for safety reasons, it’s Santa Ana.

When more than 900 county residents were asked in a recent Times Poll, “Is there one particular area of Orange County you go out of your way to avoid because you consider it unsafe for you and your family?” 56% said they avoid Santa Ana.

Most of the other cities viewed as places to avoid were mentioned by no more than 1%, and only one other was mentioned by as much as 3%.

Latinos, who make up the majority of Santa Ana’s citizens, are even more wary of the city than either whites or Asians. Sixty percent of Latinos in Orange County avoid Santa Ana, compared to 47% of Asians and 56% of whites.

Sgt. Julio Nunez, 44, a Los Angeles Police Department officer who works in south Los Angeles, was one of the poll respondents who said he avoids Santa Ana, because he worries about being caught in a drive-by shooting or other trouble.

“It’s not something that preys on my mind. But since I realize that a problem exists there, it’s only logical I’m going to avoid it and not place myself in harm’s way,” said Nunez, of Los Alamitos.

Alex Cordova, a 32-year-old poll respondent, said he feels safe in the gated community where he lives in south Santa Ana. But Cordova said he tries to dissuade his wife from going to certain areas of the city and recently bought her pepper spray for self-defense.

Cordova blames much of Santa Ana’s crime and violence problems on gangs. He said he belonged to a gang when he was growing up in east Los Angeles, “but it wasn’t as violent. . . . It was fist to fist. You didn’t go around killing or getting shot.”

Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters acknowledges that “there are problems” with security in some areas of the city and that Santa Ana suffers in comparisons of crime rates with other Orange County cities. However, “if you’re not out buying drugs, or in a gang,” your chances of becoming an innocent victim of violence “are really low,” he said.

“We’re a major urban center in a county which has traditionally been suburban and relatively crime-free,” Walters noted, adding that Santa Ana has more than its share of the ingredients that contribute to an elevated crime rate--high-density housing, high poverty levels and a young population.

Overall, Santa Ana’s felony crime rate last year was roughly 25% higher than the county’s as a whole. Its rate of violent crimes--murders, rapes, armed robberies and assaults resulting in serious bodily injury--was almost double the countywide rate. And this year, Santa Ana set a new record for homicides three months before year’s end.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young said he feels safe in the city and believes most citizens feel the same.

“We do have violence that’s caused people to have the perception they should stay away,” Young acknowledged. Taken as a whole, Young said, the city suffers from comparisons with newer, suburban South County towns.

“This is a 100-year-old city, and we have the problems of any such community,” Young said. “If their communities are 5 to 10 years old, they don’t have the diversity we do.”

Santa Ana police Lt. Robert Helton also makes the point that “there is not a single city that demographically comes close to the makeup this city has.”

Of the nation’s 100 largest cities, Santa Ana has the youngest population, according to the 1990 census. Because males from their mid-teens to mid-20s are responsible for most crime, criminologists said Santa Ana may be particularly affected. The city’s residents are also among the poorest in the county.

Paul Jesilow, a professor of social ecology at UC Irvine who in recent years has interviewed 1,200 Santa Ana residents about their neighborhoods and their attitudes toward police, agrees with Walters that not everyone in Santa Ana is equally affected by the crime that occurs there.

“Santa Ana obviously has more crime than other areas,” Jesilow said, “but I don’t particularly feel unsafe there. You may hear gunshots at night (and) you may see drug sales going on on street corners . . . but it’s not going to affect the average person.”

Crime in Santa Ana stands out, Jesilow said, because much of it--drug sales, prostitution, graffiti--is very visible. “It’s not white-collar crime,” he noted.

Media coverage of crime in the city probably contributes to the public’s wariness about Santa Ana, Jesilow said.

Some county residents say their attitudes about the city have indeed been affected by the media.

“Every news story about something, some murder or whatever, seems to come out of Santa Ana,” said Michael O’Donnell, a poll respondent from Fullerton. “I couldn’t think of another place that would even compare.”

Local business leaders are concerned about the city’s crime rates and the impression they convey. Michael Metzler, president of Santa Ana’s Chamber of Commerce, said his group is developing a marketing campaign to improve Santa Ana’s image.

“Those of us in a leadership role in Santa Ana have to admit the problems and try to do something about them,” Metzler said. Crime problems “are not as bad as other people think, but they do exist.”

Police in other cities were not surprised that county residents say they avoid Santa Ana. “I think people look at the population of Santa Ana and see it’s 65% Latino,” said Placentia Police Chief Manuel Ortega. “People are concerned about things they don’t know much about.”

Although gang activity in the county ranges from white skinheads to Asian youths, much of Santa Ana’s violent crime is attributed to gangs that claim primarily Mexican, Mexican-American and Salvadoran membership--which can tarnish the image of the law-abiding majority of Latinos.

“You have some inherent problems there,” said Nunez, the Los Angeles police officer. “It’s a large concentration of Latinos, and because of that, you have larger memberships of whatever gangs are established there, and I’m aware of the problems that could cause.”