King City community asked to help reduce crime

With a small population of about 14,000 thousands residents, King City Police Chief Bob Masterson told community members at a District Watch Meeting that violence in the town is a big problem.
“Let’s drag it out of the dark, bring it into the light and say we have an issue and let’s start addressing it,” said Masterson.

There have been 14 shootings and two homicides this year. Earlier this week, three juveniles were shot at Silver Saddle Motel and a King City High School student was shot while sitting in his car.
“I’ve been sad and I’ve been angry about all of the violence here,” said Suzanne Krause of King City. “I think it could be stopped if people decided they’re going to stop it.”
City officials said the majority of the crimes are gang related. King City has nearly 300 known and affiliated gang members.
“It’s a small fraction of our community that’s causing the problems,” said King City resident John Buttgereit. “We have a huge percentage of our community who want to help the community and make it a better place to live.”
To gain control of the surge of violence, city councilors appointed a 23 member task force who developed a comprehensive plan to end youth violence.

“This is not going to be a plan that’s going to sit on the shelf,” said King City Manager Steve Adams. “We’re already well along in implementing the majority of the items on there.”
The plan includes programs and tactics centered around prevention, intervention, enforcement, re-entry and public outreach.
“We’re looking for heroes in our community,” said Masterson. “What we define as a hero is a person who is willing to step up, provide us with information regarding a violent act or criminal gang activity.”
Other than watching for suspicious activity, residents are also being asked to do things like register their home camera security systems with the police department to catch criminals and install motion sensor lights.
“Once we put our heads together we can make this happen,” said Krause.
Five District Watch meetings will be held this weekend.