Gangs recruit fourth graders
From the Woodland Record:
This is the second article of a two-part series dedicated to informing Yolo County citizens about gangs and gang-related activity. This part is intended to demonstrate where gang activity occurs and why. Its focus is based on information provided by the City of Woodland Police Department, Gang Violence Suppression Unit – a unit that has been in existence for 13 years.
IT’S HAPPENING. At-risk children in our elementary schools are subject to recruitment by gang members. Parents, teachers and community members should be aware that even fourth graders can be tempted to mimic the pseudo-glamorous “gangsta” look (one of the criteria used to validate gang members) and even be persuaded to take the path toward crime.
Sergeant Tom Davis and officer Ron Cordova of the Woodland Police Department, Gang Violence Suppression Unit, both agree that gang awareness should start earlier than middle school or junior high – and that the community, as a whole, needs to understand the reality of gang activity.
Read more at the Woodland Record.
A block to the east of the Yolo County Housing Authority is a tunnel that crosses under Highway 113 (near Interstate 5). This entrance is on Deaner Avenue. Gangsters, delinquents and taggers can crawl under the freeway to a secluded area on the other side. The secluded area can also be accessed by a gravel road at the end of Dr. Claasen Way (on the east side of the highway near AAA Self Storage). The remote area, often shielded by tall weeds, is also used by teenage lovers. Staff photo.
Download the Woodland Gang Map (1.2 mb PDF).
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11 comments:
The gang problem in Woodland did not happen over night. It has been growing for the last 5-10 years more than any other city in Yolo County. Of all the tax dollars we shell out to the City of Woodland, the Woodland Police Chief is one of the highest paid employees. He makes well over $100,000. Our once beautiful and safe place to raise a family has become the gangter's armpit of not just Yolo but the entire region because our chief of police has gotten lazy and arrogant.
Time for a new police chief.
Okay... so let's say a better salary for this chief is $70,000. Would $30 to $50 K make a difference in the department's ability to suppress gang activity?
I just find it difficult to connect the dots you laid out by saying the chief is lazy because of his high salary. I think it's more about the overall city budget. Hopefully as the public becomes aware of the gang problem, there might be some pressure on city management (above the chief) to allocate our resources more effectively to fight it.
As far as beauty goes... the chief has nothing to do with the last decade of planning and "development."
Anon 10:53
Gangs in Woodland have existed for over 50 years or longer. I recall their existence back in the 50's when I was a teenager. Their existence has nothing to do with salaries of police officers or the chief of police. Get real and become informed before making a foll of yourself.
Law enforcement, such as they are are afraid of these gang members-for the most part they just go after small time stuff & someone their not afraid of. The few times they do go after these gangs they act like they are war heros. Law officers in this town (the police dept. sherrifs dept. probation dept. CHP are all on the take & in bed with together. Including Sullivan & Preito (sp)
I think if we did not have to pay so much for a chief we could afford more cops where citizens need them. On the streets.
As far as beauty goes, graffiti in this town has gotten so out of control, disgusting, gang related most of the time, and that too is because our head of law enforcement has spent more time on the golf course than in our community.
Realtors and mortgage brokers need to put pressure on the city council to pressure the chief, or get a new one, and start to clean up this town. Protect our kids from gangs expanding their influence of drugs, crime and violence into our schools.
I believe we arm every law abiding citizen of this town and clean it up. The police seem to have their hands tied by all the liberal do gooders.
4:52/4:57/5:05
What do you mean "go after?" Do you mean make arrests for things like murder and attempted murder? If so, please note the recent arrest of the Triple Nickel killer and the arrest and confessions of the Pioneer drive-by shooter and accomplices.
I challenge you to prove that the increase in graffiti is related to the the chief playing golf, or whatever he chooses to do in his spare time. Or are you implying the chief is working part-time for a full-time salary... which would be quite an accusation.
The gangs need to start recruiting in Kindergarten. The real action is running shake-downs during snack time, and dealing in Mr. Sketch markers.
Here is a fact. None of you morons have worked harder for anyone than our good public servants do for us. If you had the qualifications required of the Police Chief and Sheriff perhaps you could make a decent salary also.
Get an education, expereince, and less self importance and you too will make something of yourself.
Dino you said
"...Or are you implying the chief is working part-time for a full-time salary... which would be quite an accusation."
Chief Sullivan behaves more like a corporate CEO than a humble servant of the stressed taxpayers. WPD officers have known this for a long time. They have done all they can do to try to convey that they have lost confidence in Sulivan's leadership.
The idea that cops would fear gang leaders and only go after the small gang crimes for appearances, we do have history in this country. Corruption where the FBI had to step in when local law enforcement leaders became tainted or too fearful.
Quality of schools go downhill fast, property values drop and your town becomes a dump.
There may have been gangs here since 1950 but this massive cancer exploded exponentially on Sullivan's watch.
The sheriff seems like the only one with the juevos to stand up to them and hit this gang problem head on.
We should all ask the sheriff what we as citizens can do to support his plans to save our kids and our communities.
I will take Carey Sullivan and the whole Woodland Police Dept to the corruption goin on in the Yolo County Sheriff's dept any day of the week.
Lets fix this by replacing Ed Prieto and company creating the armpit in Yolo County.
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