Celebrating the Joys of Street Life : Crime: An Anaheim neighborhood throws itself a party after special police program helped reclaim it from violence, gangs and drugs.

Isabel Lopez looked around her neighborhood Saturday in the north-central part of the city and couldn’t believe what she saw: children playing football and hockey in the street, neighbors grilling hot dogs in the yard, music blaring from speakers on the sidewalk.

In many neighborhoods, it might be just another autumn block party. But for Lopez and her neighbors, this was a remarkable sign of triumph.

More than 350 residents gathered in the 500 and 600 blocks of Sabina Street to celebrate what community members, the local church and police all say they have accomplished in an area where gangs, drug dealers and violence once ruled the streets.

“We got rid of the problems,” Lopez, 61, declared Saturday as children played games around her and neighbors conversed. “It’s clean and safe now.”

For years, residents say, they were scared to walk down the streets or sit on their front porches. Children were afraid to play outside for fear of being killed--just as 13-year-old Eulises Carranza Pineda was about four years ago during a drive-by shooting. And residents talked of children’s hands being sliced by thugs because they had no money to give them.

“Oh my God, it was bad,” said Lopez, a 31-year resident of the neighborhood. “You couldn’t even walk through here because dealers would offer you all kinds of drugs.”

Residents say things began changing six months ago after the Orange County Congregation Community Organization and community members pressed officials to take a more active role in the community, and police responded by placing a Community Action Policing team in the area.

The 10-member CAP team was trained to concentrate on specific areas that had become known for drug, gang and prostitution problems. The squad began patrolling the neighborhood in June. “Six months ago, I wouldn’t have wanted my family members to walk through that area,” said CAP team Officer Dave Kanoff. “It was really crime-ridden and it had a reputation among drug users that that’s where you came to pick up drugs.”

In June and July, police made 165 arrests in the area, mostly for dealing and buying drugs. They confiscated 37 grams of cocaine, 18 grams of heroin and 32 grams of marijuana, along with a handful of weapons.

There were also 129 citations issued for parking or other traffic-related violations, and 106 vehicles were impounded after owners failed to produce valid licenses.

On Aug. 18, police and code enforcement officers performed sweeps of the neighborhood, finding more than 200 building and housing code violations. Most of the property owners, who were given 30 days to correct the problems, were forced to clean up their homes and apartments to meet codes, police said.

Police point to the numbers as evidence of their success in the neighborhood: Last month, only four narcotics-related arrests and six warrant arrests were made, while 13 traffic and parking citations were issued and 11 cars were impounded.

Crime has decreased significantly because the criminals are either in jail or have moved out when police moved in with stings and foot and car patrols, CAP team Officer Jeff Norris said.

“I think it’s worked but I don’t want to say all the problems have disappeared, although it has gotten a lot quieter recently,” Norris said. “The residents and landlords have to stay involved. They have to be willing to keep calling and be witnesses.”

That’s exactly what members of OCCCO, a group of residents who attend St. Boniface Church and live in the area, are willing to do. They said they will continue holding their twice-monthly meetings at the church, encouraging landlords and residents to communicate with one another and become aware of what’s happening in the area.

Another group of residents, which calls itself TOPS, an acronym for four neighborhood streets--Topeka, Olive, Sabina and Pauline--has pledged to continue its biweekly flashlight walks, which began last year in an effort to rid the area of its criminal element.

Until police came in, TOPS members recall that they were pelted on their rounds with rocks, bottles, oranges and apples by gang members and drug users, but they never gave up.

“Everybody working together is what made it happen,” said Lois Schechinger, who owns a home on Sabina Street.

“The fact that the people got together to work for peace in their lives made the difference,” said Father Ed Poettgen, a priest at St. Boniface who blessed the neighborhood with holy water last month as a symbol of the its progress.

“Parents don’t have to tell their children to hide in the house or duck for cover all the time any more,” said Roberto Lopez, 62, a longtime resident of Sabina Street. “People are now completely free. It’s like we’ve been let out of prison.

Francisco Burgos, 11, played hockey on the street with his friends Saturday. He rarely could before. “I was always too scared,” he said. “I thought I was going to be killed in a drive-by like my friend Eulises, but my parents said it’s OK to play outside now.”