CA: Baca blasts parents in wake of slaying

Daily News ^ | 6/28/05 | Troy Anderson and Rachel Uranga

[BurbankKarl]

As a community mourned the cold-blooded killing of an anti-gang deputy, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca stepped up his pressure Monday on parents, saying they are failing to take responsibility for their children. Deputy Jerry Ortiz was killed Friday, shot in the face while searching for an attempted-murder suspect in Hawaiian Gardens, about 25 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Jose Orozco, 27, whose criminal record began while he was a juvenile, was arrested in his slaying.

"I'm going to continue to make a hard run at the families of these gang members," Baca said in an interview. "You are responsible, partially, for the lack of help your child gets. You are staying at home, passively allowing your children to become a ruthless animal."

But gang, community and legal experts said parents are not the only issue, noting that Orozco's 30-page rap sheet also raises questions about the effectiveness of the criminal-justice system.

"The thing that strikes me is this guy should have been caught a lot earlier," said civil-rights lawyer Connie Rice. "He is one of the minority of criminal offenders who have this kind of rap sheet, full of violent crimes over and over again, and nonresponsive to the conditions of parole.

"It's a matter of prioritizing who is the most dangerous. The other issue is we have so many people in prison for nonviolent crimes; just drug offenses, really. We have overburdened our incarceration system so these really dangerous people get less attention."

Although Baca and District Attorney Steve Cooley displayed Orozco's rap sheet during a weekend news conference to announce his arrest, they refused to release it Monday.

However, sheriff's officials did provide some details of the suspect's criminal record, which spanned more than a dozen years and included arrests in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and Santa Barbara counties for possession of cocaine and marijuana, vehicle burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and floating bad checks.

Orozco also has three felony convictions. In March 1996, he was sentenced to three years' probation for second-degree vehicle burglary. In December 1996, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for possession of a firearm by a felon. And last August 2004, he was sentenced to 16 months in state prison for resisting arrest.

At the time of Ortiz's slaying, Orozco was out on parole, but had not contacted his parole agent since earlier this year, officials said. However, he was a suspect in a gang-related shooting last week in Hawaiian Gardens that left one person wounded.

Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau Capt. Ray Peavy said he didn't believe there was much more authorities could have done to prevent the tragedy.

"There are a lot of people out on the streets that have been released from prison who continue to commit crimes," Peavy said. "That's just the way it's always been. I doubt it will ever change."

But Michael Baca, operations director of Homebody Industries and a good friend of the slain deputy, said the system does little to help gang members turn their lives around.

"It's definitely a failing system that is overburdened and overcrowded," said Baca, who is not related to the sheriff. "And because there isn't any kind of measurable outcomes for intervention and rehabilitation, they don't feel a need to invest in it."

And experts noted that parents can only do so much.

"In today's world, the culture being what it is, it's tough raising children," said William "Blinky" Rodriguez, executive director of the San Fernando Valley-Greater Los Angeles chapter of Communities in Schools.

"I'm talking from experience of having six children, and as a parent who worked very hard to keep his sons all on the right path: Young people are going to choose the way they want to go.

"We, as parents, can lead them as closely down the path of success that we try, but ultimately, I can't help but feel that this societal culture is truly giving itself to so much negatively."

And some note that the work it takes to watch over adolescents, especially for working parents who can barely afford rent, can be exhausting.

A former neighbor of Orozco, who declined to be identified for fear of her safety, said the suspects' parents moved to Las Vegas two years ago to get away from the neighborhood. She described Orozco's parents as religious and hard-working, and said she was offended by Baca's comments.

"They worked their whole life for their children," she said.

But Baca said parents still need to work harder to alert their children to possible pitfalls.

"The point I'm making about the families of gang members is that they know their kids are up to no good," Baca said. "It's a common pattern among gang members. When they are young, they won't come home all night long. They start tattooing themselves in gang symbols and language.

"They are not doing well in school, if they go to school at all, and they are committing crimes and being arrested for those crimes. How many messages does a parent have to get from their errant child that their child is screwed up?

"What all parents should do is learn a lesson from the death of Deputy Ortiz, say their child has the same potential and should quickly pick up their phone and call their local police or sheriff, and say, 'I need help."'

[BurbankKarl]

But gang, community and legal experts said parents are not the only issue, noting that Orozco's 30-page rap sheet also raises questions about the effectiveness of the criminal-justice system.

[drt1]

I'm all for increased parental control over the conduct of their offspring. Unfortunately, Liberal Society has deemed the State a better parent than the biological kind and have taken most of the important decisions made by parents out of their hands and into those of the numerous 'Experts' running schools, media and health services to name but a few. Now they blame the parents for losing control over and the respect of their children? Give me a break, please!

[Logophile]

But gang, community and legal experts said parents are not the only issue, noting that Orozco's 30-page rap sheet also raises questions about the effectiveness of the criminal-justice system.

Yes, the criminal justice system leaves much to be desired. Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly true that young criminals disproportionally come from bad home environments. The criminal justice system would have much less to do if families were doing a better job.

By "family," I mean a father and a mother, legally married and faithful to each other. A never-married teenaged mother supported by the state does not qualify.

"The thing that strikes me is this guy should have been caught a lot earlier," said civil-rights lawyer Connie Rice. "He is one of the minority of criminal offenders who have this kind of rap sheet, full of violent crimes over and over again, and nonresponsive to the conditions of parole.

I cannot disagree with Ms. Rice. But I have to wonder: Is she one of the civil-rights lawyers who is quick to cry racism and police brutality whenever the police attempt to crack down on criminal gangs?

[goldstategop]

Our liberal Sheriff thinks we need to come down hard on parents right? Perhaps but let's point out this Jose Luis Orozco was in and out of prisons several times over the past decade. Why wasn't he kept locked up even though he was a violent felon? I don't see Sheriff Baca and his fellow Democrats calling attention to loopholes in the law that let career criminals out on the streets. Yeah Sheriff Baca, its easy for you to say its time to ride hard on the parents while ignoring the failures of the justice system that result in the needless murder of one of your deputies. The point is, it could been avoided if Orozco had been locked up in the first place.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[goldstategop]

Liberals sympathize with criminals. I can certainly understand how Sheriff Baca is torn between his liberal impulse to raise our taxes and his rage at the murder of a cop on his beat. Again, the Democrats don't want to punish violent felons. Heck, saving money beats protecting innocent life with them every time. They sure do have their priorities in the right order. And nothing will change so long as they are running our state.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[Americanexpat]

The sad thing is that in some of these communities if a parent did what was really required to keep a "Young" kid on the straight and narrow path, they would end up in prison for child abuse.

I was a gang member when I was younger, but it was nothing like the gangs of today. In some communities you join a gang to protect yourself from other gangs. The pull of some of these gangs is really strong and once this kid gets under that kind of control Mom and Dad have lost it.

Like other posters here I wonder about this guy have 30 pages of rap sheets and is still walking around the streets. He should have been jailed for a long time.

[Misplaced Texan]

What happened to the 3 strikes law in CA? Did they do away with it?

[ArmstedFragg]

Oh Goody! Advice from a civil rights lawyer on how we can improve the criminal justice system.

[goldstategop]

Common sense. Why didn't any one notice this lapse in our criminal system before? Oh, I notice all the hand-wringing over a dead cop. The liberals blame society for his death but I can guarantee you it never enters their tiny minds to hold the criminal responsible for the crime.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[thoughtomator]

Obviously it's more important to stop cancer patients from smoking marijuana than to keep violent criminals off the streets.

[jocon307]

I sympathize with what the Sheriff is saying, but this man was 27 years old. His parents and upbringing seem rather irrelevant at this point in time, 9 years after he attained his majority.

[BurbankKarl]

they werent violent felonies.

[hershey]

One of the reasons California's jails are bursting at the seams is that they hold a great many illegal aliens committing crimes Americans don't want to commit.

[Little Ray]

Yup. They should hanged him while he was young.

[lainie]

It's also more important to put people into decades-long jail terms for "not paying taxes."

[lainie]

I sympathize with what the Sheriff is saying, but this man was 27 years old. His parents and upbringing seem rather irrelevant at this point in time, 9 years after he attained his majority.

A very good point.