South Shore criminals keep cops busy
By Kathryn Reed
Gangs, drugs, the threat of violence at schools, parents who are not engaged, and a crime rate that is increasing.
Those were some of the topics South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler, El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum, and Steve Heggen with county probation touched on during this month’s Lake Tahoe Collaborative meeting.
(Lake Tahoe Collaborative was founded in 1992. It is leaders of primarily social service agencies who meet monthly to discuss issues pertaining to the South Shore.)
Steve Heggen (probation), Pete Van Arnum (EDSO), and Brian Uhler (SLTPD) talk crime on the South Shore. Photo/Kathryn Reed
On Friday, law enforcement used South Tahoe High School as a staging ground for a mock school takeover. This was done while students were on spring break so as not to disrupt classes, but some drama students got to participate.
“We are trying to change the mindset of school administration and teachers (to be more proactive),” Van Arnum said of the meetings he and others have been having with Lake Tahoe Unified School District personnel. “You look at school shootings across the country and most of the kids talked to someone and they didn’t come forward. We need good relationships with students because they’ll give us information before it happens.”
SLTPD and probation have armed officers at South Tahoe High at various times. But law enforcement does not favor arming school staff. They relayed how as first responders they are going after the person on campus with a gun, and if a teacher or administrator is armed, that person may inadvertently become a victim of law enforcement.
Van Arnum said his experience is that the middle school is where the attention needs to be placed because that age group is most impressionable.
This is evident with the Norteno and Sureno gangs in town tapping into the younger age group.
“One of the more disturbing trends we are noting is those gang bangers are recruiting mentally challenged kids,” Uhler said.
Heggen said parents need to be watching and listening to their kids. He told a story of a mom he knows who didn’t allow her son to buy red shoes because of potential gang affiliation.
“What are we doing to model behavior we want them to model?” Heggen asked.
He sees kids who behave well in the Juvenile Treatment Center, but once released are back in the environment that contributed to their incarceration and the destructive behavior resumes.
Police K-9 units on occasion go to STHS. Uhler said while arrests have been made, this type of action is more preventative in nature. “Leave it alone or leave it at home,” Uhler said is the message officers try to convey.
Throughout the community marijuana and alcohol are the most abused drugs, with more locals being arrested than tourists. Uhler said 90 percent of the arrests his officers make are locals.
He will be making a presentation to the City Council this spring about crime stats from 2012.
“The total number of arrests is down, but we are seeing an increase in crime,” Uhler said. He said the bad guys are getting away with more because of staffing issues. “We are seeing alarming trends. Sexual assault numbers are up and aggravated assault.”
Crime as been an issue as long as mankind as existed. In all those years what we worked hardest on and spend the most money is in punishing offenders. That’s like spending all your money repairing a a broken thing rather the a little research in building a better one to start with.
While we have made great progress, the context that we work within stays the same. A friend recently shared with me an article about the fall of the Roman Empire and previous dominating societies, and it contained the prediction of our own fall. The logic was rooted in the idea that the public gets lazy, more interested in hand out, welfare, or as they are popularly claimed, “entitlements”.
While history is interesting what it omits in his case is technology. In Roman times one man worked one day on one acre to produce enough to live. Today with science, machines one men works one day on ten thousand acres, there by eliminating the need for hundreds of men. My point is that today we can provide more with less, yet we pretend that every one should work. I wonder what the world would look like if we could get over that, to create art forms, recreation, and other sources of respect rather then how much money you made.
Is the source of crime natural? I think not, it is more a function of a failure to recognize other forms of success, of acknowledgement. To a young person who s not going to invent the next machine or is not rally that smart, what do you do? What if no one had to worry about his next meal or a place to live? That your well being was more about your honor, your integrity then what you do for a living?
As long as we have those without, we will have crime, as long as we try to regulate morality, like our foolish drug laws, we will have crime. Let’s try changing that not just figure pout better punishment.
Ted, When we had three strikes in place we had less crime a more civil society and less cost…
I am not saying that three strikes was perfect but it was much better than than what the leftist have brought on.
Education is the number one issue in our country that needs to be addressed. Ted Long just proved this by the insane amount of grammatical errors in the above paragraph. I am aware that Long supports legalization of pot. He spends more time promoting this than promoting the funding of our education system. Ted, I have questions for you. Why are there pregnant teens at STMS? Why do you not instill trust in the students and provide lockers? Have you ever been on FaceBook and witnessed the bulling and torment of some students from other students? I tried my best to find answers while living there but found the focus to be on pot. I enrolled my kids in their new school and although they were in honors classes in Tahoe, they were very behind in their new school district. They are up to date now and are offered endless music and art classes to feed the creative soul.
It is sad to see Tahoe still on the same path. Are you happy Ted to walk down most streets in Tahoe and smell the pungent skunk scent? Are you okay with the second hand smoke and vapors affecting our children? Are you okay with people driving under the influence of Marijuana? Are you okay with the endless properties being wrecked do to mold from Marijauna cultivation? It is time to cultivate the minds of our youth and to promote our faith in their characters and passions. Please look beyond your current opinions and really take a look at what is happening to the South shore. We miss the beauty there, but it was only skin deep.
Our community is changing. We can dance around the topic all day but the fact is that we have had a huge influx of people from other places, inner city type places. With this population change came more violent crime. Marijuana has always been a Tahoe issue but I never had a drive by in my neighborhood until I noticed that change in our community. I have lived here all my life and have never been afraid to walk down the street at night until now. Just the other week there was a large group of younger men standing on the corner all dressed in red. On the streets groups of boys with their pants down to their knees are swearing like sailors and acting like fools. Some of these people who have moved from the cities have brought with them “gang life” attitudes and problems. I want to move.
All of our problems will go away if you get rid of leftists and weed. OK, that will do it. LOL.
“Why are there pregnant teens at STMS? ”
Because…. they are having sex? And our sexually repressed society thinks that not talking about sex means that it isn’t happening?
“Are you okay with the second hand smoke and vapors affecting our children?” That is a ridiculous criticism. Smelling an odor is not harmful. Smoking a cigarette in a car with a child is harmful.
You can’t nerf the world lady.
dumbfounded, Don’t you want to fix the terrible mess California and the country is in?
OF COURSE THE PROBLEMS WON’T ALL GO AWAY, BUT IT WILL BE A GOOD START THAT’S FOR SURE!
Do you like the misery that is coming down on the country? If so then you are sick!
I can’t help but laugh at how we have managed to turn the actions of moronic criminals into a argument about marijuana and local government. Neither of which is the issue here. All I see are 7 propaganda comments. @Chris, we should all be concerned about education. The teenagers we are raising today will be in charge of our country tomorrow. Frankly, I find that concerning. We should all be worried about schools, we should all be raising these kids. These kids will either be productive members of society or rob you in ten years. It is my fault that our community is crumbling, it’s your fault too. When I was a kid, If I was acting up in the street a neighbor would drag my sorry a$$ home by the collar for butt whipping. We were accountable, to everyone. If you cut class you ran the risk that your teacher would see your mom at the market and ask after your health. The South shore is not alone in this. Society is crumbling at our feet and it is our fault, all of us. Remember that saying, “It takes a village”? No one says that anymore. There are no more villages.
“SLT is reaping what it has sown, and I love it.”
What the heck does that mean? Why would you love it? What a nasty remark.