King City crackdown on crime paying off with 100% drop in drive-bys and burglaries from 2017 to 2018

“We need to have students learning and not worried about gunfire, drive-bys or gang activity,” said King City Mayor Mike Lebarre.

Which was the unfortunate case in 2017. The small farming community of King City had a total of three homicides and 32 drive-by shootings.

“We’ve experienced a large amount of gang activity and gang violence,’ said LeBarre.

So much so that the community came together to create a Comprehensive Plan to End Youth Violence.

“Since the implementation of the plan we have accomplished 16 of the 21 recommendations,” said LeBarre.

One of those recommendations was a city-wide surveillance system.

“I mean the fact is that there are only five ways to get into King City and they all have cameras. Anybody coming in wanting to do bad things we will get a picture of you and get a picture of you leaving our town and we will arrest you. That is what our officers are doing right now,” said LeBarre.

Since installing the cameras there has been a 100% drop in drive-bys, homicides and burglaries. King City Police contribute that to a collaborative effort with Greenfield Police, the major crimes unit, Federal Law Enforcement partners, as well as the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.

“And because they are making arrests our community members are coming forward and providing actionable information making even more arrests. So this is a very big win-win for the city and community,” said LeBarre.