South County law enforcement agencies join forces to fight gang crime
The Monterey County Sheriffs Department announced Monday morning that agencies in South County will join forces to fight gang crime. The new team is being called The South County Violence Suppression Collaboration.
These meetings among all the South County cities and sheriff’s office has already started and they said it is already fighting gang violence in South Monterey County.
“We’re going to put together the resources to disrupt and dismantle these organized gangs and individuals who cause an uptick in south county,” Monterey County Sheriff Steve Bernal said.
Bernal was joined by the four police chiefs from Greenfield, King City, Soledad, and Gonzales. Each of those agencies will have one officer dedicated to the new violence suppression team, but that doesn’t mean the officers will stop patrolling their own area.
“The difference is we’re sharing information,” Bernal said.
Sharing information to see if any crimes overlap in the four cities. So far there has been two homicides in Greenfield, three homicides and 12 shootings in King City. King City’s Interim Police Chief, Tony Sollecito said they’ve been collaborating with the sheriff’s department for awhile.
“I have seen a difference since we started that collaboration where they’ve been coming into King City as well as Highway Patrol,” Sollecito said.
Bernal said he will dedicate six deputies to the alliance but they will also still be responsible for regular duties.
“I don’t think we should be looking at the cost so much when we’re losing so many lives in South County. We need to do something different,” Bernal said.
As one gang task force goes away in Monterey County, the Sheriff said sharing resources and intelligence will stay in South County.
“We are confident that it is going to make a difference,” Sollecito said.
Bernal said the sheriff’s department is forming a fugitive apprehension team that’s also going to focus attention in South County. The collaborative gang group will meet weekly.
