OCSD gives quarterly performance report; describes downtown shooting, freeway chase and arrests

An Orange County Sheriff's Department representative presented first-quarter performance measures to the San Clemente Public Safety Committee on Feb. 25 and described a shooting and freeway chase that led to multiple arrests and a weapons recovery.

The department reported 6,894 total calls for service for the quarter, of which 2,111 were observed and 4,783 were dispatched. Crime counts for the reporting period totaled 652. The department reported 85 arrests (81 felonies and 4 misdemeanors listed in the presentation) and said p-1 emergency response times were just below five minutes at 4 minutes, 56 seconds.

The OCSD representative described a shooting that occurred overnight near local freeways and a subsequent pursuit. “I got woken up at 03:00 in the morning,” the representative said when recounting the response. Deputies used the city’s camera system to identify a vehicle leaving the area and followed. The pursuit ended on a freeway ramp where two occupants fled and were later apprehended; the department reported recovering two ghost guns, multiple rounds of ammunition and shell casings.

The department said several of the suspects arrested in connection with the incident were juveniles. Committee members asked for further details about ages and the adult suspect’s identity; the presenter said the adult’s age was not available at the meeting and that some information remains under investigation.

Committee members also raised operational items including camera monitoring, enforcement approaches and securing the police substation. Deputies requested that staff consider installing screening on a new security gate near the substation so certain evidence-collection procedures could be performed out of public view; city staff said they would follow up.

No formal committee action was taken on operational requests during the meeting.