Traveling gang linked to San Luis crime wave

A recent carjacking, the holdup of a business and a string of residential burglaries are presenting this city's acting police chief with a baptism by fire as the new head of the police department. The break-ins, dozens of which have occurred since February, are believed to have been committed by a traveling band of burglars whose tactics have included phoning in false reports to police in an effort to divert officers away from neighborhoods they are targeting, says Police Commander Arturo Ramos. In the short term, the police department will launch a public awareness campaign to stress to residents the importance of organizing Neighborhood Watch programs and taking other preventive measures to curtail home break-ins, he said. But Ramos, who took over as acting chief after the resignation earlier this month of Eddie Munoz, says the department needs additional officers to cover the city's streets. Robberies such as the carjacking and the holdup of Desert Water are rare occurrences in San Luis, Ramos said, but should serve to remind police officers that as the city continues to grow, so could violent crime. In the holdup on March 12, a man whose face was covered by some type of black face or greasepaint walked into Desert Water on 2nd Avenue, displayed a pistol and fled on foot with an undisclosed sum of money from the cash register. Earlier in the month, according to police, a customer leaving a restaurant on the same street was confronted by an armed man with a handkerchief covering his face. The man got into the victim's car and demanded he drive him out of town. At County 19th Street and Avenue 1E, the carjacker let the victim out of the car and drove away in the vehicle, found later in Maricopa County by sheriff's deputies there. No one was injured in either incident, and no suspects have been arrested. The robbery came as police were dealing with a string of home break-ins committed over the past several months by what is believed to be an organized band of burglars from out of town. In all, police have taken reports of 41 residential burglaries since February. Typically the stolen property is clothing and other items that can then be sold at swap meets with little risk of being traced through serial numbers or other means, he said. “We think they are career criminals who don't have any connections in San Luis. They move from place to place.” The break-ins began in residential subdivisions on the city's east side, such as Los Alamos and Los Olivos, but have since moved to the west side to subdivisions such as Rio Sereno. The burglars “know how much time they have” to get in and out of a home, Ramos said. “They work in pairs, just seconds ahead of the officers. They know where the officers are, so if the officers go to one of the locations, (the burglars) hit in another area of the city.” In some cases, he said, the police department has received false reports of crimes in an effort to divert officers from neighborhoods where burglars want to strike. Ramos said one of his goals is to provide for more ongoing training for officers. One of the tools the department uses toward that end is a laser-shooting incident simulator, where a computer is used to mimic an armed confrontation on a screen to test the officers' responses. Officers have been required to complete the simulator training once a year but will now undergo it several times a year. Ramos hopes to be given council approval to increase the number of officers in the department to be able to beef up the department's presence on the streets. “We need more officers. We have the basics now, four officers per shift and a sergeant, but if two are sick at any time, we have two on — and we have an area of 33 square miles to patrol.” He said the department could use at least nine additional officers.