Santa Rosa Police Department reinstates Gang Crimes Team
After years of increasing gang violence in Santa Rosa, the police chief on Tuesday confirmed the department's Gang Crimes Team is being reinstated.
Police say half of the homicides in the city last year were gang related. The department is also blaming gangs for an increase in gun incidents involving teens. According to police, the number of minors arrested for gun possession was up 500% last year compared to 2022.
Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan said the plan to bring back the Gang Crimes Team is all about stopping the violence before it starts.
The team was disbanded in 2019 during a severe staffing shortage.
The increase in Santa Rosa gang violence has spilled over into high school campuses, particularly at troubled Montgomery High School. Last week, a girl was arrested for allegedly leading an attack on another student inside a bathroom in the latest violent episode at the school.
Last year, a student was stabbed and killed inside a classroom.
Melissa Stewart owns Dandelion Boutique in Santa Rosa and her son is a sophomore at Montgomery High School. He's in the band and loves math and physics, but she says he knows not to use certain bathrooms on campus.
"Because they're unsupervised, so that really is a spot where students can fight, they can vape," says Stewart.
Rebecca Sullivan has worked at Montgomery High as a health tech for the past 9 year, and her daughter is a junior there. She says she's seeing the gang violence from the community spilling over into the schools.
"Whether they're officially in the gang or just affiliated, it's definitely present on campuses right now. Some sort of clothing attire to let everyone know where they stand," says Sullivan.
That's exactly why Santa Rosa's Chief of Police, John Cregan, brought back the Gang Crimes Team in December. He made a presentation to the city council about the team during the public safety subcommittee meeting on Tuesday morning.
"The majority of violent crimes are committed by a small group of people in this community," says Chief Cregan. He says of the 10 murders in Santa Rosa last year - half were gang related, and so were many of the other violent crimes.
"Prolific offenders who are out there day after day committing drive by shootings, doing thefts, getting in gang fights. Being able to solve to solve some of these violent crimes is going to take those offenders off the streets of Santa Rosa and in the long run you're going to see less people victimized," he says.
The Chief says the team has 4 key goals - First, is prevention to keep kids out of gangs in the first place. Second is intervention to get current gang members out of the gangs. Third is education to talk about identifying gang issues. Lastly and if all else fails the team will resort to enforcement.
"We have a significant problem in the city of Santa Rosa and I believe now is the time for us to act," says Chief Cregan.
It's a statement that parents of high schoolers agree with.
"We can worry forever but something needs to be done for change," says Stewart.
The gang task force is currently made up of 4 detectives and one sergeant. The Chief says they're going to keep the staffing that way for now, but will continue to re-evaluate in the months to come and could add more officers.