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CHP to help Santa Ana Police crack down on gangs
A dozen California Highway Patrol officers will be patrolling the streets of Santa Ana for gangs over the next three months. KPCC’s Susan Valot says it’s part of a grant-funded statewide program that started in Santa Ana last night.
A dozen California Highway Patrol officers will be patrolling the streets of Santa Ana for gangs over the next three months. KPCC’s Susan Valot says it’s part of a grant-funded statewide program that started in Santa Ana last night.
Susan Valot: The CHP got nearly $7 million in grant money to help local law enforcement in “high intensity gang areas.” For Orange County, that’s Santa Ana.
Dozens of gangs call the city home. Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters says it’s hard to fight those gangs with a tight budget and few resources. He says the CHP program will add some manpower.
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Paul Walters: Highway patrol traditionally sticks to freeways and state highways. They have authority to work in local communities, but they don’t. As a priority, they leave that up to the local sheriffs and the local police departments, the local agencies.
This, in this program, the governor is actually assigning officers to go team up with our detectives, police officers to work in our higher crime neighborhoods focusing on the criminals, which is something the highway patrol would not do normally.
Valot: The program will last 90 days. Santa Ana police will track how well it works by keeping tabs on crime stats. If it works well, they may ask the highway patrol to stay on a little bit longer.
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