Anti-Gang Police Officer's Car Booby w Trapped Deadly Device

[308Mike]

Linkarooni

Anti-Gang Police Officer's Car Booby Trapped With Deadly Device

Saturday, March 06, 2010

An anti-gang officer in Hemet, Calif., discovered a deadly device attached to his car Friday — in what appears to be the third attempt in the past two months to injure or kill members of an anti-gang unit in southwest Riverside County, MyFoxLA.com reported.

An officer with the Hemet/San Jacinto Gang Task Force called for back-up after discovering a threatening device next to his car, parked outside of a store. Authorities cordoned off the intersection near the vehicle while a bomb unit disabled the instrument.

The explosive device had been affixed to the vehicle prior to the officer's drive to the store, Hemet police Lt. Duane Wisehart told MyFoxLA.com.

"We're not releasing what type of device it was," Wisehart said. "All we can say is it would have killed or injured the officer if it had done what it was supposed to do."

Authorities have not yet named a suspect.

The booby trap comes months after authorities discovered a natural gas line on the roof of the task force's headquarters building had been redirected into the facility — filling it with gas, which could have caused an explosion. In February, an anti-gang officer was opening a gate at the task force's office when he was nearly struck by a bullet that was part of a booby trap triggered when the gate moved, MyFoxLA.com reported.

The task force is now operating from an undisclosed location.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved a $100,000 reward for information leading to the capture of whoever is responsible for the previous two attacks.

Click here to read more from MyFoxLA.com.

[Combat Controller]

Damn, getting serious out there.

[workinwifdakids]

I work in Hemet two nights a week and live in the immediate area, and this incident is another sign of the area's descent into tribalization. Riverside County Sheriff's Department has entered into an unstable truce after running gun battles between deputies and members of the Soboba tribe.

Video...

There's also a very tense situation on Gilman Springs Road in which Scientology's sprawling global media headquarters owns private land on both sides of the pass right up to the curb, and they've convinced the County Board of Supervisors to pass a ban on protests within 30 feet of their property. In essence, standing in the middle of the street would fall within that 30-foot ban. So, the Sheriff's Department is dealing (in an awkward, clumsy manner) with a well-organized and aggressive religious organization on one side, and passionate protesters which include the infamous internet entity Anonymous (with 'chan' supporters) on the other.

FBI regional task forces, DEA swat raids, Sheriff's aviation doing circles over our school playground... yeah, this is the wild west. On a sort of 'meta' level, though, from my experience the Sheriff's Department is attempting to solve these problems by looking at everyone as a suspect, and that is turning innocent Riverside County citizens' view of police as somewhere between apathy and hostility. While I hope they find the bomber and he ends up being shot by police, I'll bet good money he's a member of MS-13 or the Mexican Mafia who both run here, in which case he's vapor.

[Combat Controller]

Let the locals be armed in public, it's for the children...

[308Mike]

Things continue to escalate:

Updated March 20, 2010
Booby Trap Attacks Targeting California Police Officers

AP

Police in Hemet, Calif., are on a heightened alert amid assassination attempts against officers possibly orchestrated by a motorcycle gang.

HEMET, Calif. -- The tense atmosphere surrounding a California police department plagued by booby trap attacks has been stepped up a notch following the latest threat against officers.

Someone called 911 at about 5:45 p.m. Friday saying a police car would be blown up in the Hemet-San Jacinto area in the next 24 to 48 hours, Hemet Police Chief Richard Dana said.

"We're heightening the alert," Dana told The Press-Enterprise. The caller said the attack would be in retaliation for the law enforcement sweep against the Vagos Motorcycle Club earlier this week.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department has not been able to confirm the threat, Deputy Herlinda Valenzuela said.

About 30 members of the Vagos, California's largest motorcycle gang, were arrested in Riverside County on Wednesday, as part of a crackdown across the state and in Arizona, Nevada and Utah. The gang specializes in methamphetamine sales, identity theft and violence, Riverside County sheriff's Capt. Walter Meyer said.

Dana said someone he believes may have been a gang member tried to get into a news conference Thursday at the district attorney's office in Riverside. The person was turned away, he said, because he didn't have a press credential.

At that news conference, Dana, District Attorney Rod Pacheco, state Attorney General Brown and others announced a $200,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the Hemet-area booby traps aimed at officers in recent weeks.

First, a natural gas pipe was shoved through a hole drilled into the roof of the gang enforcement unit's headquarters. The building filled with flammable vapor but an officer smelled the danger before anyone was hurt.

Then, a ballistic contraption was attached to a sliding security fence around the building. An officer opening the black steel gate triggered the mechanism, which sent a bullet within eight inches of his face.

In another attempted booby trap attack, some kind of explosive device was attached to a police officer's unmarked car while he went into a convenience store.

Gang enforcement officers appear to be the target of the assassination attempts, though Dana noted the devices were indiscriminate by nature and could have killed any police or law enforcement officer.

A prevalent theory for the attacks is that Vagos members were angered when members of Hemet's anti-gang task force monitored them at a funeral in a church opposite the task force's former headquarters.

The incidents have shaken a close-knit police department already demoralized by steep budget cuts that last year saw its officer numbers slashed by a quarter to 68. Officers are checking under cars for bombs and scouting for other potential hazards.

"I would call the mood tense," Capt. Marghis said. "Everyone is being very vigilant about their surroundings and the environment."