New threat puts Calif. police on heightened alert

[RC]

Posted: Mar 19, 2010 6:33 PM CST Updated: Mar 20, 2010 12:13 PM CST

By THOMAS WATKINS
Associated Press Writer

HEMET, Calif. (AP) - 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.

More here --> http://www.kivitv.com/global/story.asp?s=12173715

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No terrorism here, these are domestic white guys.

[WhiteTara]

1. Sons of Anarchy wannabes?

sounds like that tv show last year.

[graywarrior]

2. I love how gangs "specialize" in specific criminal activities.

I wonder what their financial portfolios look like.

[lunatica]

3. There have been quite a few boobie traps against the police

Further down in the article. I don't think this will blow over without bloodshed.

(snip)
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.