Santa Cruz brings back street crimes unit with new name and goals
Cracking down on violence, gangs and drugs. That’s the idea behind a special unit within one Central Coast police department. Santa Cruz is bringing back its street crimes unit, this time with a new name and new goals. On Wednesday, Newschannel 5 found out why the unit is making a comeback.
The old street crimes unit is now called the Neighborhood Enforcement Team or NET. Santa Cruz police said several years ago it was taken away because they were short staffed.
Operating with a full-staff of 95 officers, Santa Cruz is now able to send a team of highly trained officers into high crime areas.
“What they do is bring in other city departments and other environmental changes that are needed in order to bring long term solutions to the problems that they come across. Whether it be a drug house, whether it be public nuisance violations,” said Deputy Chief Rick Martinez.
The department had to scale back several years ago due to staffing shortages. But last April, the city was able to hire more police officers. Then one sergeant and four officers were hand-picked to become the neighborhood enforcement team.
“They really go out of their way to look at these problems critically and bring solutions forward that hopefully will have some long term solutions,” Martinez said.
The unit said its hit the ground running. Within the first month, they’ve made 27 felony arrests. The team’s mission is to make neighborhoods safer, by collaborating with other departments.
“They are working with our gang task force, with our Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team, so they’re really everywhere addressing every problem as it arises. They’re really chasing hot spots throughout our city which is a tool we were long overdue for,” Martinez said.
These officers don’t have to work patrol, which means they’re able to dedicate themselves to getting rid of crime affecting the quality of life in Santa Cruz.
“The bonus of having this team is the team has a lot of freedom. They aren’t dedicated to responding to calls,” Martinez said.
Martinez said these officers came up with the name Neighborhood Enforcement Team themselves. He said it shows how focused they are, on the task at hand. Eventually they hope to have two teams like NET.
