Police arrested 11 probation and parole violators, many of them with gang ties, in a three-agency sweep Wednesday night.
The arrests came just one day before the Hollister Independence Rally, when police notice an increase in gang activity, said Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller.
“We wanted to send a message that we will not tolerate (gang activity),” Miller said. “If we find people in violation of probation we will arrest them.”
Officers from the Hollister Police Department, San Benito County Probation Department and State Parole conducted a sweep focusing on gang members and associates, Miller said.
“This is the first of such joint sweeps that will be conducted over the coming weeks and months,” he said. “The best way to stay out of trouble is to not get into gangs and not do illegal behavior, but if you have been out on probation or parole, follow the rules.”
The unit focused on probationers or parolees who had submitted a positive drug test, missed an appointment with a probation officer, were found to be associating with known gang members or had exhibited other factors that placed them “at risk” to violate parole or probation conditions, said Chief Probation Officer Deborah Botts.
The probation department has done smaller-scale sweeps in the past, with one probationary officer and a police officer, but never on this level, said Chief Probation Officer Deborah Botts.
“We want to make sure that the community understands that we’re paying attention, that our offenders understand that we’re paying attention,” Botts said. “And to get the attention of people playing around in with the gang lifestyle.”
Law enforcement working together to address the gang problem will have a direct effect on the understaffed police department by decreasing crime, which would alleviate some of the work of the overworked officers, Miller said.
And although the nine-hour operation resulted in overtime for some of the officers, it will have a positive affect on the department’s hefty projected overtime budget of $300,000 in the future, he said.
“If we get the people committing crimes off the street, that’s less crimes that are going to be committed,” Miller said. “This is a good use of overtime because it has a larger impact – by making these arrests now we’ll see long-term benefits.”
Two probation officers, four police officers from the department’s gang task force and one state parole agent out of Salinas participated in the sweep.
The team went to between 20 and 30 homes of probationers or parolees from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., and found the community was happy to help, said Hollister Police Detective Tony Lamonica, who participated in the sweep.
“It was excellent – we got a lot of cooperation from the community, helping us out when people ran, telling us where they went,” he said. “This helps cut down on crimes… so our guys on patrol don’t have to deal with as much. And for the community, too – it gets these people off the streets.”
About half the people the unit visited were in compliance with the terms of their probation or parole, but the other half that were found out of compliance were arrested and booked in the San Benito County Jail, she said.
Out of the 11 arrested, six were in violation of drug offenses, five for possession of drug paraphernalia and one for possession of drugs for sale. Some of the people arrested had gang ties, but not all, Botts said.
“When people are playing around with gangs and drugs it places the whole community at risk,” she said. “By getting them off the streets it’s a really positive thing. And by finding people who are being successful on probation it’s a big success as well.”
