Community Corner
Police Target Street Gang in East Palo Alto
The program is part of a multi-agency effort that includes Palo Alto Police, San Mateo County Sheriff's Deputies and county probation officers.
Just over a week ago East Palo Alto Police Chief Ronald Davis declared a “crime emergency” in the city based on a spike of violence in which 8 people were shot, with a 15 year old boy killed, in two weeks.
According to a statement on the department’s Facebook page, police believe the increase in violence stems from an internal feud with the Norteño street gang.
In response to what they term a “crime emergency,” police have put extra patrol units in the field focusing on Norteño gang members. So far, officers have made 20 arrests and recovered 2 firearms the first week of the crime emergency.
In their Facebook statement on Tuesday police said that seven out of the 20 arrests are known Norteño gang members.
The department also received assistance from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office which formed a multi-agency enforcement team comprised of East Palo Alto police officers, Sheriff's Deputies, Palo Alto Police, San Mateo County probation officers and state parole officers.
The efforts of this team have resulted in 7 arrests, including three Norteño gang members.
The combined efforts of these teams have resulted in 27 arrests and 2 guns recovered the first week of the crime emergency. Ten out of the 27 arrests are known Norteño gang members. These statistics do not include the countywide Gang Task Force activity.
On their Facebook page East Palo Alto Police detailed a number of activities they will be doing in the next few weeks in their effort target gang activity in the city. They include:
- The East Palo Alto Police Department will continue the crime emergency and maintain the extra patrol units in the field.
- The Sheriff’s Office will re-deploy the multi-agency enforcement team.
- The Gang Task Force will deploy in East Palo Alto (and throughout the County).
- The East Palo Alto Police Department will conduct an Operation Ceasefire "call-in" of Norteño gang members. The "call-in" will involve the police department, community leaders, County probation, state parole, federal parole, the District Attorney's Office, the United States Attorney's Office, and several service-providers and community and faith-based organizations.
