Score: +6 (6/5/0)

Napa County Grand Jury • 2023-2024

Hitting The Reset Button; Addressing Gangs in Napa County

Published: April 10, 2024 22 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings and Recommendations 9 findings

The Jury found that gang activity and gang association in Napa County are on the rise.

Related Recommendations (1)

By December 31, 2024, Napa Valley Unified School District and Napa County Office of Education will implement programs that focus on elementary and middle schools with gang prevention and parental education programs.

The Jury found that due to the employment demographics in Napa County, increasing numbers of children are left unsupervised. This situation was exacerbated by the Covid Pandemic.

Related Recommendations (1)

By the fall of 2025, Napa Valley Unified School District and Napa County Office of Education restore free high school vocational curriculums (CTE- Career and Technology Education) and partner with local industries to align their course offerings with labor market needs.

The Jury found current gang activity and recruitment is more apparent in middle school and even younger ages.

Related Recommendations (1)

By the fall of 2025, Napa Valley Unified School District and Napa County Office of Education, to maximize OTS (out of school time), partner with non-profit stakeholders to provide enriching experiences that provide lasting developmental benefits.

The Jury found that despite it having been proved to be successful, vocational curriculum has been eliminated within the NVUSD.

Related Recommendations (1)

By December 31, 2024, Napa Valley Unified School District and Napa County Office of Education establish a bi-annual meeting between the Napa Valley Unified School District, Napa County Office of Education and business community organizations such as Rotary, Elks, Moose, Napa Chamber of Commerce, and the Napa County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to create job opportunities, internships, and training for credits.

The Jury found that Napa County has little to no after school activities for teens and preteens. There is a need for organized free programs, including sports and other after school activities.

Related Recommendations (1)

By September 30, 2024, the Napa County Board of Supervisors and Napa City Council identify financial resources to support community efforts to help families in need.

The Jury found that gang activity is supported by illegal money-making opportunities which can be attractive to underprivileged youth.

Related Recommendations (1)

Beginning July 1, 2024, the Napa County Board of Supervisors and Napa City Council support legislation to roll back decriminalizing drug and theft crime.

The Jury found that coordination and communication among law enforcement, educators, and local service providers is not effective.

Related Recommendations (1)

By December 31, 2024, the Napa Valley Unified School District and the Napa County Office of Education strengthen the current stakeholder task force (law enforcement and schools) including non-profits which specialize in gang prevention and intervention and local industries.

The Jury found that data on gang membership and activity is limited and ineffective at gang intervention and prevention.

Related Recommendations (1)

By September 30, 2024, the City of Napa Police Department create a succession plan for the Community Service Officer role in the Juvenile Diversion Program, including program expansion.

The Jury found that some state legislation and propositions passed by the voters are hindering law enforcement’s ability to interdict gang crime and, in doing so, improve gangs’ ability to make money, which attracts more gang members. Commendations C1. The Jury commends the Napa Police Department Special Enforcement Unit as well as the Napa County District Attorney’s office’s interdiction efforts to stop gang violence. C2. The Jury commends the Napa Police Department’s Juvenile Diversion Program and the dedication of its diversion officer. C3. The Jury commends the Napa Police Department, Napa Sheriff’s Department, the Napa Valley Unified School District, and the Napa County Office of Education for their School Resource Officer program and also acknowledges the dedication of the School Resource Officers assigned to the Napa County Schools. C4. The Jury commends the Napa County Probation Department’s officers assigned to Camille Creek who go beyond their duties to help at-risk youth as well as the officers assigned to supervise gang members and associates. C5. The Jury commends the Napa Sheriff’s Department for its Youth Activities League programs.

Related Recommendations (1)

By December 31, 2025, the Napa County Sheriff, the City of Napa Police Department, the City of St. Helena Police Department, the City of Calistoga Police Department, the District Attorney’s office and the Napa County Probation Department create an integrated 21 data collection system to improve the efficiency of trend monitoring associated with gangs and gang crimes.

Commendations 1

CM1 Page 20

C1. The Jury commends the Napa Police Department Special Enforcement Unit as well as the Napa County District Attorney’s office’s interdiction efforts to stop gang violence. C2. The Jury commends the Napa Police Department’s Juvenile Diversion Program and the dedication of its diversion officer. C3. The Jury commends the Napa Police Department, Napa Sheriff’s Department, the Napa Valley Unified School District, and the Napa County Office of Education for their School Resource Officer program and also acknowledges the dedication of the School Resource Officers assigned to the Napa County Schools. 20 C4. The Jury commends the Napa County Probation Department’s officers assigned to Camille Creek who go beyond their duties to help at-risk youth as well as the officers assigned to supervise gang members and associates. C5. The Jury commends the Napa Sheriff’s Department for its Youth Activities League programs.

Agency Responses 3

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

Napa County Sheriff

July 03, 2024 • 18 pages • 2 responses • Score: 0 (+0, 2, 0) View Details ▾

PDF

2 responses to findings and recommendations

Response: Implemented

Score: 0

1 This recommendation has not yet been implemented. The Sheriff's Office will work to implementing a tracking system for periodic trainings that reinforces skills and best practices in several topics, including elder abuse. The Sheriff's Office is committed to providing a well-trained and prepared work force to keep Napa County safe. In addition to the training that Deputies already receive related to elder abuse through the Police Academy and the Field Training Program, in 2019 the legislature passed, and the Governor signed, Senate Bill 338. SB338 created more policy mandates for law enforce...

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The Sheriff's Office partially agrees with this finding. Deputy Sheriffs, along with all California Peace Officers, receive training on this topic as part of Learning Domain (LD) #7 in the Regular Basic Course, commonly referred to as the "Police Academy". The training in LD-7 is comprehensive in that it includes information to identify and investigate elder or dependent adult abuse, physical pain or mental suffering, in addition to theft and fiduciary abuse. The training covers relevant Penal Code sections, crime elements, and examples. In addition, upon completion of a Police Academy, Deputy...

Napa County Sheriff and District Attorney

July 03, 2024 • 5 pages • 10 responses • Score: +6 (+6, 3, 0) View Details ▾

PDF

10 responses to findings and recommendations

The Jury found that gang activity and gang association in Napa County are on the rise.

Response: Agree Score: +1

The District Attorney and Sheriff agree with this finding. Finding 2: The Jury found that due to the employment demographic in Napa County, increasing number of children are left unsupervised. This situation was exacerbated by the COVID pandemic.

The Jury found that due to the employment demographics in Napa County, increasing numbers of children are left unsupervised. This situation was exacerbated by the Covid Pandemic.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The District Attorney and the Sheriff agree in part with this finding but would be interested in looking into more evidence to in support of this finding, or learning if it is California-wide, or unique to Napa County. Finding 3: The Jury found current gang activity and recruitment is more apparent in Middle School and even younger ages.

The Jury found current gang activity and recruitment is more apparent in middle school and even younger ages.

Response: Agree Score: +1

The District Attorney and Sheriff agree with this finding. Finding 4: The Jury found that despite it having been proved to be successful, vocational curriculum has been eliminated withing NVUSD.

The Jury found that despite it having been proved to be successful, vocational curriculum has been eliminated within the NVUSD.

Response: Agree Score: +1

The District Attorney and Sheriff agree with this finding. Finding 5: The Jury found that Napa County has little to no after school activities for teens and pre-teens. There is a need for organized free programs, including sports and other after school activities.

The Jury found that Napa County has little to no after school activities for teens and preteens. There is a need for organized free programs, including sports and other after school activities.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The District Attorney and Sheriff agree in part, that more free and affordable programs would be good for the community. We disagree, however, with the description of "little to no" after school activities. In addition to the affordable programs for teens and pre-teens offered by the various Parks and Recreation departments of the various cities in Napa County, the Napa Valley Boys and Girls Club and the Boys and Girls Club of St. Helena and Calistoga offer a variety of after school programs for affordable fees that are largely subsidized by both government grants and local philanthropy. Napa ...

The Jury found that gang activity is supported by illegal money-making opportunities which can be attractive to underprivileged youth.

Response: Agree Score: +1

The District Attorney and Sheriff agree with this finding. Finding 7: The Jury found that coordination and communication among Law Enforcement, Educators, and local service providers is not effective.

The Jury found that coordination and communication among law enforcement, educators, and local service providers is not effective.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The District Attorney and Sheriff partially disagrees with this finding. We support efforts to expand coordination and communication to share information and intelligence through relationships, phone calls, and virtual and in-person meetings. The Napa County law enforcement community, and particularly the members of this community involved in juvenile crime prevention and enforcement, is small. Napa Police Department's Youth Services Bureau (YSB), the various School Resource Officers (SROs) from all agencies, juvenile probation officers, prosecutors, and many of the service providers are in fr...

The Jury found that data on gang membership and activity is limited and ineffective at gang intervention and prevention.

Response: Agree Score: +1

The District Attorney and Sheriff agree that the data is limited, and that this limitation can hinder gang intervention and prevention. Finding 9: The Jury found that some state legislation and propositions passed by the voters are hindering law enforcement's ability to interdict gang crime and, in doing so, improve gangs' ability to make money, which attracts more gang members.

Response: Agree Score: +1

The District Attorney and Sheriff Office agree with this finding. Recommendations: The Jury recommends: R9: By December 31, 2025, the Napa County Sheriff, City of Napa Police Department, City of St. Helena Police Department, City of Calistoga Police Department, the District Attorney's Office, and the Napa County Probation Department create an integrated data collection system to improve the efficiency of trend monitoring associated with gangs and gang crimes. Response: The District Attorney and Sheriff will not be able to implement this recommendation. Creating an "integrated data system" for ...

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

The District Attorney and Sheriff will not be able to implement this recommendation. Creating an "integrated data system" for the purposes described by the Jury would meet the definition of a "shared gang database" as described in California Penal Code 186.34 (a) (4) and therefore trigger all of the restrictions and limitations created by the 2017 bill that became law, AB-90, including control from the California Department of Justice. Further, it would fall under Part 23 of Title 28, Code of Federal Regulation which contains the onerous implementing standards for operating multijurisdictional...

Napa Valley Unified School District

August 07, 2024 • 12 pages View Details ▾

PDF

No Responses Found 7

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

Calistoga City

County of Napa Agency

Napa City

Napa County Board of Supervisors Elected County Office

Napa County District Attorney Elected County Office

Napa County Office of Education Agency

St. Helena City