Greenfield police combat gang violence

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office says some sort of gang task force is being discussed. While nothing is set in stone, the Greenfield Police Department is already devoting more resources to the problem.

“We don’t want to pretend we don’t have a gang problem,” Greenfield Police Chief Adele Frese said. “We do.”

It’s not just Greenfield, but Gonzales, Soledad and King City. At times it has been very violent.

“We know that a majority of our homicides,” Chief Frese said. “Not only this year but in past years have been a result of violence caused by gangs. I want to call it what it is.”

It has been just over a month since 21-year-old Joseph Aguilera was shot, lost control of his car and crashed into a home near Dart Way and De Leon Drive. He was one of four people killed in a four-day shooting spree that spanned South County. Authorities are still investigating those homicides.

Longtime Greenfield Donna Silva feels the gang problem has gotten worse over the years. Weeks later, she’s still shaken up about the deadly shooting just a block away from her home.

“It’s scary when it happens around the corner from you,” Silva said. “That’s what really bothered me.”

Silva says she’d feel safer if there were more patrols. Since February, five new Greenfield officers have been hired. There are plans to hire even more.

“Every single one of our officers in our department are receiving training,” Chief Frese said. “In gang intelligence and how to combat gang activity.”

These new officers aren’t just patrolling. They’re also meeting with young kids to start building positive relationships now, which will hopefully keep them away from gangs later. The department is also building up a database on known gang members and communicating with other nearby agencies.

“It’s important we share this information with our south region because we do know that they’re mobile just like everybody else,” Chief Frese said.

Sharing information is what one mom is doing with her 15-year-old son.

“To guard yourself,” she said. “To really be cautious of who he is hanging out with and who they’re hanging out with. Use that as a judgement call and if anything feels out of place, to pay attention to his instincts.”