Most of the news about crime in San Diego is good. The city's overall crime rate dropped 2 percent last year. But gang violence shot up significantly. Now gangs are the police department's Number One target. KPBS reporter Andrew Phelps has the story.
Last year in San Diego, 58 people were murdered. That's a 15 percent drop from the year before. That's good. But half of those homicides were gang-related. Gang killings jumped more than 60 percent from the year before.
Ramirez: So we're really going to make a focus next year to attack the gang problem.
The gang problem in San Diego. That's David Ramirez, who takes the Number Two spot at the Police Department next month. First, he says a juvenile division detective will be assigned to the gang unit.
Ramirez: Cause we're doing pretty good about the enforcement piece. We're making a lot of arrests. But what are some of the strategies we can use to keep the kids from getting into the gangs?
And he wants officers to get more involved with parents and schools. Ramirez wants to stop a cycle of recidivism before it starts: Gang members commit crimes, get busted, go to jail, then get back on the streets and commit more crimes. And he won't just focus on kids but the people who give their marching orders.
Ramirez: The shot callers are the people that are pretty high in the hierarchy and actually giving the direction. We know who they are.
And Ramirez knows where they're going. He says more "hot spots" flared up mid-city --around El Cajon Boulevard, and in Mira Mesa, where there are more Asian gangs. Ramirez says gang activity actually decreased in Southeast San Diego.
Ramirez: Because of the pressure. Where there's pressure, they move.
Ramirez is also assigning a detective to the city's gang commission, the only uniformed cop to get involved with gang policy.
Andrew Phelps, KPBS News.
