Undercover operation nets 4 juveniles

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- An undercover officer working the streets in December

arrested four juveniles who assaulted him and took his wallet, police

officials said Wednesday.

The officer was involved in an ongoing undercover decoy operation the

Costa Mesa Police Department designed to crack down on street crime that

officials say was on the rise last year.

The robbers mostly seemed to target people walking on the streets at

night, Lt. Dale Birney said.

He said the undercover officer who made the arrests was walking in the

Mesa Del Mar area about 10 p.m. Dec. 14 when the group stopped him.

“They tried to engage the officer in a conversation,” Birney said.

“Then they assaulted him and took his wallet.”

There is no indication that this particular incident or any other

similar incidents in the city are gang-related, he said.

“But most of the victims of such incidents have told us that their

attackers seemed to be under 25 years [of age],” Birney said.

The undercover operation started Dec. 1. Officers were sent out to

different parts of the city, Birney said.

“We haven’t seen these incidents occur in just certain areas,” he

said. “They have been happening all over the city.”

The department analyzed the situation in the fall, when it compared

numbers in the first six months of 2001 with those of the previous year

and discovered an increase in street crime, Birney said.

“And that trend showed no signs of slowing down through the summer,”

he said.

The department at that time decided to set up the decoy operation but

had to wait till adequate manpower was available, Birney said. The

officers, through December, carried out the operation two to four nights

a week.

Birney said such operations are beneficial to the community because

they help officers identify areas where such crimes are prevalent.

“It also helps us send out the message that we are actively combating

this kind of activity,” he said.

“We hope these arrests will discourage people from getting involved in

these crimes.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .