Having grown up on the east side of San Jose, Hollister Police
Department officer Carlos Rodriguez knows the impact gang activity
can have on a community. Now, he hopes he can have an impact of his
own as Hollister’s new gang officer.
Having grown up on the east side of San Jose, Hollister Police Department officer Carlos Rodriguez knows the impact gang activity can have on a community. Now, he hopes he can have an impact of his own as Hollister’s new gang officer.
The 31-year-old Navy veteran recently moved into the newly-created position after four years with the department, including a year-and-a-half as the local school beat officer.
“A lot of people would agree that gang violence in the city of Hollister is one of, if not the biggest, things that the city faces,” said Rodriguez, who is also a range master, chemical agents instructor and a field training officer for the police department.
“In this position, I’ll have to wear a lot of hats, educating people about gangs, going out and doing suppression patrols to curb the activity and working with the kids on the prevention side so it doesn’t happen again.”
A three-year California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CalGRIP) grant is funding the position, which focuses on suppression, prevention and education, according to Hollister Police Captain David Westrick.
“We plan on doing equal parts of all three,” he said.
The grant, the second one obtained with help from County Gang Coordinator Al DeVos, continues local anti-gang efforts that have included outreach to elementary schools, an anti-bullying program and money to allow extra police patrols to track gangs and prevent violence.
For a story on an upcoming gang forum, go here.
“It takes a big effort from all the agencies involved,” Westrick said. “The next step is to have an officer specifically for the purpose of working on the gang issue. Our hope is we can utilize this resource county-wide.”
Though the grant funds a city police position, Westrick said Rodriguez will work in conjunction with the county sheriff’s office, probation and other organizations.
“The key goal is to prevent those acts of violence that affect our children,” Westrick said. “We want to have a place that our kids can play in the streets; where there’s no fear of gang violence or getting hurt – just be a kid. We take the lessons of our nearby neighbors and know there are pretty significant violence issues in Monterey County and Southern California and on the peninsula. We look at all of that and try to take what’s working in those programs and implement that here. Our goal is to have safer streets and peace.”
Rodriguez said his interaction with other local agencies is crucial to combating gang activity.
“I’ll be working with the county, probation and my fellow officers,” he said. “So I want to be a resource so we can present a unified front. It’s a very complex problem that will take a commitment from all aspects of the community to address. It’s not something that can be fixed overnight, but if we can present that unified front, we can make a large impact. It’s going to take a commitment and sacrifice from everybody.”
The gang officer’s position is not designed to be a covert or secretive job, Rodriguez noted.
“We have a gang forum coming up on Oct. 12 and we know gang members like to send members to those events to gather intelligence to create counter-intelligence,” he said. “At the end of the day, what we’re doing is nothing new or secret. If parents take our advice, there’s no way for the gang members to counter that. It starts with strengthening our families.”
Education is a key for any community that wants to address a gang problem,” Rodriguez said.
“We’re trying to increase everyone’s level of knowledge,” he said. “You can’t do anything about a problem until you admit you have one. When people realize what’s going on, we can better deal with the problem as a community.”
The gang officer will make connections with multiple community and faith-based organizations as part of the process, Rodriguez said, adding that schools will also be a focus.
“I can draw on my experience as a school officer to make an impact as the gang officer,” he said. “I was able to make some connections and bring all the pieces of the puzzle together to deal with the problem as a whole. I got to know the kids I worked with. I still drive around town and recognize them and they recognize me. We developed a lot of trust going both ways. I want to expand on that.”
Westrick noted that the gang officer position is particularly important to the city, which has seen an increase in gang violence in 2011. He, too, said he believes that the gang officer needs to be at the forefront of the city’s suppression efforts.
“We don’t want it to be a secret,” Westrick said. “We want gang members to feel unsettled. We want them to feel that this is not a safe haven for them. We’re going to identify them and try to get them prosecuted when they commit a crime. Our goal is to stop the violence and have safer streets.”
