Santa Rosa police bring back gang crimes unit
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KRON) — The Santa Rosa Police Department is bringing back its gang unit. They say it’s because of a surge in gang activity last year.
KRON4 spoke with a lieutenant about how this unit will be different from units they’ve had in the past. This won’t be a unit of uniformed officers walking around on the streets.
Instead, it will be a group of detectives that will take over the investigations the department believes are gang-related.
Safeway in Half Moon Bay evacuated due to possible armed shoplifter: sheriff
In 2023, Santa Rosa recorded 10 homicides. Police say five of those had gang connections, leading the department to re-establish its gang crimes team.
“In order to stay effective, you’re constantly having to pay attention to who in the community is running these gangs,” said SRPD Lt. Christopher Mahurin. “Where are these trends happening? And our other assignments are just overloaded already with other crimes their investigating. This will help supplement out violent crimes teams.”
The new team consists of four detectives and one sergeant. They started investigating in the first week of December. Mahurin says they will take over investigations if they find a gang connection.
“As well as the gang enhancements which usually put people in prison for a lot longer,” he said.
The team will also work on prevention and intervention, especially when it comes to young people in the community.
“We’re seeing a huge uptick with juvenile crimes in our city,” Mahurin said. “Especially with violent juvenile crimes, in March of last year, we had our first homicide on a school campus as well, that we do believe was gang-related.”
Lawsuit: Santa Rosa school failed to help slain student Jayden Pienta
That homicide happened at Montgomery High School. A 16-year-old was stabbed to death — another was injured. Mahurin says some gang leaders intentionally recruit young members.
“We’re seeing that a lot of adult gang members are using juveniles to commit these crimes because they know that there’s less of a consequence for juveniles in the long run than there are for adults. So intervening at an early age,” Mahurin said.
Santa Rosa police previously had a gang crimes unit, but it was disbanded in 2019 because there wasn’t enough staffing.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
