Member Arturo Lopez was featured in an article in the Wednesday, February 17, 1999 Burbank Leader. The following is the article in its entirety
TOUGH LESSONS
GANGING UP ON GANGS
Crimes, arrests drop for fourth straight year police say
By Leslie Simmons, The Burbank Leader
When Arturo Lopez was 18, he decided to put six years of gang life on Elmwood Avenue behind him.
With the help of a city jobs program, references from officers in the Burbank Police Department's gang unit and support from his family, Lopez, now 24, landed a job with the city and earned a diploma from John Burroughs High School.
"What got me started was Career connections where I worked through the summer," he said, referring to a city program now called CREST, which helps students find jobs.
"That helped me stay away from the streets, stop hanging out and doing nothing or causing trouble."
Police said Lopez is not alone in leaving gang crime behind him. Through beefed-up enforcement, increased community resources and personal commitment, many former gang members have successfully turned around their lives in recent years, police say - contributing to a steep decline in gang-related crimes fro the fourth straight year.
Lopez started at the city Public Works Yard but was soon transferred to the Public Service Department because they needed someone who was bilingual.
But for Lopez, starting a career and leaving behind the gang life was not enough to spare him from its consequences.
In 1993, he was at a hamburger stand on San Fernando Boulevard on his way home from a New Year's Eve Party when one of his former rivals shot him.
Lopez, whose spinal cord was damaged in the shooting, has been without the use of his legs ever since.
Though he no longer walks, Lopez was able to return to his job as a utility worker in the payment processing office of the Public Service Department after the shooting, and he has continued moving forward with his life.
He now can look back at his past and remember some of the low points with a bit of humor.
"I wasn't a good gang member," he said. "I didn't help old ladies across the street."
He wasn't a good kid either. At 15, after arrests for vandalism, fighting and concealed weapons, he served five months in a county juvenile camp for violating parole.
For years a thorn in the side of local authorities, Lopez is now considered one of Burbank's best success stories. "He was well known" as a gang member, said Marissa Rosoff, who works with the Burbank OutReach Center. "When he changed his life he really changed it. He made a solid decision to avoid choices that were harmful to him."
According to a comprehensive report on gang activity in Burbank released last week, gang-related crimes have decreased by 59% since 1994, when 271 were reported.
Arrests were also down in 1998, for the fourth consecutive year. In 1998, 132 adults and juveniles were arrested for gang-related crimes, down from 254 in 1994 and 256 in 1992, when police say gang membership in Burbank peaked.
"We have been successful because we have a responsive community," said gang detail Sgt. Eric Rosoff. "The city and community created an environment for alternative activities."
Rosoff, who is married to Marissa Rosoff, said resources such as the DARE program, employment programs and the Burbank Outreach Center have worked to pull current and potential gang members from the streets.
A concerted effort by city agencies to clean up the area around Elmwood Avenue has also done much to reduce gang activity, he said.
Lopez, who still lives on Elmwood Avenue with his mother, Efigenia, and his older brother, Angel, agreed.
"There's not as much gang activity as before," he said. "I think it's due to the changes in the neighborhood - it looks nice."
In 1992, with 10 active gangs in Burbank with a combined membership fo more than 1,000, the rising toll of crimes prompted Police Department to take a hands-on approach, thoroughly investigating every gang incident, Sgt. Rosoff said.
According to the new report, six active criminal street gangs with about 375 members currently operate in Burbank - a decreased of more than 150% from 1992.
Despite the drop, the department has no plans to ease up on gang enforcement, Rosoff said.
"There are truly only a few that are capable of pulling the trigger and we have a good pulse on who those members are," he said.
We have a comprehensive database that includes who's being contacted, who they're with, they they're doing - it's like pieces to a puzzle."
Lopez is glad he is no longer one of those pieces.
"I know of people who are still involved in the gang lifestyle," he said. "The ones I hang around with are out of it."
***CREST stands for City Resources Employing Students Today. To find out more about this job program and others, call the Burbank OutReach Center at 558-5544.