Stockton Police Unveil New Plan To Deal With Spike In Violence
STOCKTON (CBS13) — Stockton is dealing with a spike in violence. In just the past 30 days, there have been seven homicides. It's getting so out of control the police department is making some serious changes.
This past Memorial Day Weekend, two people were killed and five others injured. Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones says this has to stop.
On Wednesday, he announced a new long-term approach to make sure it does. Chief Jones met with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI to put a stop to the violence.
"The federal partners have said 'yes, we are here to work with you on this gun problem in Stockton and we're taking it seriously,'" Jones said.
The department is working with the FBI, the ATF and the U.S. Marshall Service to put together a Crime Gun Information Center. No other department in the area has anything like this, but Jones said his city needs it.
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"We have a huge amount of guns. Our officers are getting about 800 guns off the street a year, and these aren't just guns from legal owners. They're not legal guns. These are guns being used illegally or they are illegal weapons," said Jones.
This new center will focus on looking at the evidence, things like shell casings, that can help identify shooters.
The initiative should be up in running within two months. In the meantime, the department is making sure officers are more visible.
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"On a short-term basis, we've got Operation Raven going on, which is reducing violence in our neighborhoods. That's getting black and white police cars out into our communities, A) to suppress the violent crimes that have been occurring but to B) also to give a sense of security to the residents that deserve to feel safe," said Chief Jones.
This increase in violence goes further than just this month. There have been 20 homicides in Stockton this year so far. Last year at this time, there were only 13.