BACA BLASTS PARENTS IN WAKE OF SLAYING.

Byline: Troy Anderson and Rachel Uranga Staff Writers

As a community mourned the cold-blooded killing of an anti-gang deputy, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca stepped up his pressure Monday on parents, saying they are failing to take responsibility for their children.

Deputy Jerry Ortiz was killed Friday, shot in the face while searching for an attempted-murder suspect in Hawaiian Gardens, about 25 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Jose Orozco, 27, whose criminal record began while he was a juvenile, was arrested in his slaying.

``I'm going to continue to make a hard run at the families of these gang members,'' Baca said in an interview. ``You are responsible, partially, for the lack of help your child gets. You are staying at home, passively allowing your children to become a ruthless animal.''

But gang, community and legal experts said parents are not the only issue, noting that Orozco's 30-page rap sheet also raises questions about the effectiveness of the criminal-justice system.

``The thing that strikes me is this guy should have been caught a lot earlier,'' said civil-rights lawyer Connie Rice. ``He is one of the minority of criminal offenders who have this kind of rap sheet, full of violent crimes over and over again, and nonresponsive to the conditions of parole.

``It's a matter of prioritizing who is the most dangerous. The other issue is we have so many people in prison for nonviolent crimes; just drug offenses, really. We have overburdened our incarceration system so these really dangerous people get less attention.''

Although Baca and District Attorney Steve Cooley displayed Orozco's rap sheet during a weekend news conference to announce his arrest, they refused to release it Monday.

However, sheriff's officials did provide some details of the suspect's criminal record, which spanned more than a dozen years and included arrests in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and Santa Barbara counties for possession of cocaine and marijuana, vehicle burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and floating bad checks.

Orozco also has three felony convictions. In March 1996, he was sentenced to three years' probation for second-degree vehicle burglary. In December 1996, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for possession of a firearm by a felon. And last August 2004, he was sentenced to 16 months in state prison for resisting arrest.

At the time of Ortiz's slaying, Orozco was out on parole, but had not contacted his parole agent since earlier this year, officials said. However, he was a suspect in a gang-related shooting last week in Hawaiian Gardens that left one person wounded.

Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau Capt. Ray Peavy said he didn't believe there was much more authorities could have done to prevent the tragedy.

``There are a lot of people out on the streets that have been released from prison who continue to commit crimes,'' Peavy said. ``That's just the way it's always been. I doubt it will ever change.''

But Michael Baca, operations director of Homebody Industries and a good friend of the slain deputy, said the system does little to help gang members turn their lives around.

``It's definitely a failing system that is overburdened and overcrowded,'' said Baca, who is not related to the sheriff. ``And because there isn't any kind of measurable outcomes for intervention and rehabilitation, they don't feel a need to invest in it.''

And experts noted that parents can only do so much.

``In today's world, the culture being what it is, it's tough raising children,'' said William ``Blinky'' Rodriguez, executive director of the San Fernando Valley-Greater Los Angeles chapter of Communities in Schools.

``I'm talking from experience of having six children, and as a parent who worked very hard to keep his sons all on the right path: Young people are going to choose the way they want to go.

``We, as parents, can lead them as closely down the path of success that we try, but ultimately, I can't help but feel that this societal culture is truly giving itself to so much negatively.''

And some note that the work it takes to watch over adolescents, especially for working parents who can barely afford rent, can be exhausting.

A former neighbor of Orozco, who declined to be identified for fear of her safety, said the suspects' parents moved to Las Vegas two years ago to get away from the neighborhood. She described Orozco's parents as religious and hard-working, and said she was offended by Baca's comments.

``They worked their whole life for their children,'' she said.

But Baca said parents still need to work harder to alert their children to possible pitfalls.

``The point I'm making about the families of gang members is that they know their kids are up to no good,'' Baca said. ``It's a common pattern among gang members. When they are young, they won't come home all night long. They start tattooing themselves in gang symbols and language.

``They are not doing well in school, if they go to school at all, and they are committing crimes and being arrested for those crimes. How many messages does a parent have to get from their errant child that their child is screwed up?

``What all parents should do is learn a lesson from the death of Deputy Ortiz, say their child has the same potential and should quickly pick up their phone and call their local police or sheriff, and say, 'I need help.'''

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2) Lakewood sheriff's Deputy Sergeant Elizabeth Sachs places a poem at the growing memorial to slain Deputy Jerry Ortiz, above, who was killed in the line of duty Friday in Hawaiian Gardens.

Carl Hidalgo/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) JOSE OROZCO

Box:

GANG PREVENTION

SOURCE: Los Angeles Police Department