Police move back into Mesa Margarita community
By: YVETTE URREA - Staff Writer | ∞
OCEANSIDE ---- The Police Department is establishing itself back into the Mesa Margarita neighborhood ---- the site of recent gang-related violence, including the shooting death of a 16-year-old boy down the street from the community resource center.
The department has set up a new resource center in the area.
"The city did a tremendous job of stepping up and meeting the need for better police presence (in Mesa Margarita)," said community activist Wayne Godinet.
An estimated 50 people attended the grand opening of the new Oceanside Police Resource Center at 521B Vandegrift Blvd. Saturday afternoon. City and police officials also attended, as well as four pastors from the community, and families.
"It means a lot to the community. The auntie of Rusty Seau ... was in tears (of happiness) because this was happening," said Councilwoman Esther Sanchez.
The 16-year-old Seau was chased and fatally shot June 9 at Vandegrift Boulevard and Gold Drive in broad daylight, Godinet said.
Despite an arrest in the case, the shooting has shaken many of the community members, who Godinet said have told him they wanted police back in the community to try to prevent or deter further violence.
Police originally were part of the Resource Center when it opened in 1993 in response to violence in the community. The department's community policing officers worked out of the office and their presence worked to quell matters in the neighborhood, said center volunteer Joanne Rush.
The department eventually took its community policing officers out of the resource centers in the city. Rush said that's when the criminal element returned.
"It made a really big difference (having the officers in the neighborhood)," Rush said.
In the past, she said some of the youth have had a good rapport with officers and would call them up when there were problems in their neighborhood. She said she hopes the center will help build up that rapport and trust between officers and the community again.
"It should change things a lot. It's a plus to the community," said Pastor Leroy West of the Rising Star Mission Baptist Church in the same shopping center as the resource center. "I'm glad to see it back."
Oceanside Police Department senior volunteer Jerry Rush will be manning the office at the resource center. Rush said he is already a familiar face at the center since his wife, Joanne, is the community assistant at the center. Both were part of the original community group that opened the Resource Center in 1993. Rush said he has helped do a lot of the handyman work in the building over the years.
But now, he will have an adjoining office with the words "Oceanside Police Department" posted above the separate door that will make him more accessible to community members.
Rush, who has been a senior volunteer for 10 years, said he has a lot of literature to pass out and that he can help direct people to the right person at the police department if there are any problems.
"I don't do it for the glory; I do it because this is my community," Rush said.
Staff members at the center will be trained to take minor reports and to refer specific neighborhood issues to the neighborhood corporal, police Lt. Leonard Mata said. The center is open from noon to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, he said.
Rush said the center is not open on weekends because historically it did not get many visitors then.
Police reported a rise in gang violence last year in the neighborhood after the city had 20 gang-related shootings in which three people died and 18 were wounded. Most of the shootings involved rival gangs and took place in the Mesa Margarita, Crown Heights and Eastside communities. This year, three people have died in gang-related shootings, according to police.
Contact staff writer Yvette Urrea at (760) 901-4076 or yurrea@nctimes.com.
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Luika wrote on Nov 29, 2005 5:28 PM:I think it's very nice that volunteer Jerry Rush is maitaining the Resource Center and that yes we think that Oceanside Police should be around the backgate community a little bit more because of the violence but it is the parents responsibilty to know where their children are and who they hang around with and what they do when they go out with friends.Parents need to educate themselves on gangs and drugs so they can keep up with whats going on out there in their own communities especially the way we let our own children dress. We need to start at home first and form our own neighborhood watch out there and help clean up our own neighborhood instead of waiting for someone else to do it.
Jess wrote on Oct 10, 2008 5:13 PM:that neighborhood is so messed up they need 2 fix it up
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