CDCR: Prison Gangs' Rumored Threats Against Officers Not Credible
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - This year ends with highly publicized police shootings of unarmed black men, the murders of two NYPD officers and massive, sometimes destructive, protests across the nation.
New Year's Eve continued the unrest and fear with law enforcement agencies' reports of finding threats on social media to kill police officers.
In California, there was a rumor of a statewide massacre of officers that had many departments changing their patrols. The first threat to kill law enforcement officers came days ago and, was believed to have started on Twitter. Rumors of a more serious threat came New Year's Eve from California's prisons with gangs calling on members on the outside to kill officers in the street.
"We did receive information from the California prisons system there is some sort of threat against local law enforcement tonight on New Year's Eve," said Placer County Sheriff's spokesperson Dina Erwin.
The CDCR did not say where the rumor originated, but its Office of Correctional Safety looked into the threat and said it found "no credible threat."
Most local law enforcement agencies did not take extra precautions New Year's Eve.
"We're not overly concerned," said Folsom Police Officer Andrew Bates. "We always want to take a threat seriously, but as of now we're just monitoring the situation."
The San Jose Police Department, however, did change its protocol. For the first time in department history, no SJPD officer worked solo on New Year's Eve. All officers were partnered in patrol cars.
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