Safeguarding Sunset Beach

Torus Tammer

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has stepped up to the plate and

responded to the safety concerns of residents in Sunset Beach.

The beach town has, in the past, rarely needed an intense police

presence, but many residents changed their minds about that when a group

of children found a small paper envelope containing what may have been

methamphetamine while they were playing outside about six months ago.

Robbie Faris took the role as spokesman for 20 households that united

out of mutual concern for the community’s safety.

“In and of itself, the recovery of a drug doesn’t mean that sheriffs

would do anything,” he said. “In light of the discovery, nothing changed,

and we began to feel frustrated during that time.”

Fearing that drugs were being dealt in their town, residents undertook

their own surveillance. They pinpointed the activities to an apartment.

Faris, a one-time drug enforcement officer, said people would frequently

arrive and leave the apartment in taxis at all hours of the night.

“The drug dealer was living in one of the converted units, and people

would arrive anywhere between midnight and dawn -- run in, then run back

out and leave,” Faris said.

Residents continued to alert the Sheriff’s Department of the

suspicious activities, but they still didn’t get the response they

wanted. They pressed on, identifying what they said was a possible

pattern of drug dealing from the suspicious apartment. When an arrest was

finally made, it was made by Garden Grove police who had been after the

suspect.

Soon after the arrest, Sheriff’s Deputy Kent McBride was assigned to

Sunset Beach. He is the Sheriff’s Department liaison in a new venture

known as the Neighborhood Enhancement Team -- a program designed to

improve the quality of life in about 12 Orange County communities.

McBride said the program began in early July, but it took time to iron

out details and delayed the start until September.

“Residents of Sunset Beach had notified the landlord of his tenant

problem, and that’s how I got involved,” McBride said. “I started on

Sept. 8 by going to a community meeting, and from there I picked up the

ball and ran with it.”

McBride, who refers to this method of policing as “the holistic

approach,” says it is a team effort, involving the county’s Code

Enforcement and Public Works departments, the residents, and Orange

County Sheriff Michael Carona’s desire to provide better community

service.

“We really watch over the community and not just act as the policing

authority,” McBride said. “Our mission is to bring the resources of the

county to address the community problems.”

The Neighborhood Enhancement Program has already achieved many

victories, the most important of which may be restoring the community’s

peace of mind, Faris said.

Faris said McBride has worked well with the residents and recently was

able to get code enforcers to red-tag the suspicious apartment and force

the landlord to convert the property back to a duplex.

The subsequent outcome resulted in the disruptive tenant being forced

to move out.

“There is a significant change in the feeling of personal safety and

quality of life in that we don’t have that drug dealer in that

neighborhood anymore,” Faris said. “Now, this gives us more time to focus

on noncriminal-related improvementsto our community.”