At the urging of Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner, the Gilroy
Gang Task Force is looking to shift its strategy to a more
preventative approach by focusing resources on at-risk youth when
dealing with gangs.
At the urging of Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner, the Gilroy Gang Task Force is looking to shift its strategy to a more preventative approach by focusing resources on at-risk youth when dealing with gangs.
Turner and the Gilroy Gang Task Force have been discussing this shift for the past six months and hope to iron out all the details at the task force’s annual retreat from 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Gilroy Police Department Community Room at 7301 Hanna Street.
Turner hopes to nail down specifics of the shift as well as updated goals for the task force by the end of the meeting. The public is encouraged to attend.
Turner has drawn inspiration for the shift from the gang task forces of San Jose and Mountain View. Turner said a lot of the information currently shared at Gilroy’s task force meetings relates to already committed crimes.
“When we meet once a month we don’t talk about kids on our radar, we talk about kids that are already in the system. These aren’t the kids we really want to be focusing on,” Turner said.
She said one of her goals is to engage the identified youth in services and programs with the hopes of preventing them from becoming immersed in the gang culture.
