March 19--In an effort to stem the recent rise in gang violence, members of five law enforcement agencies Sunday served search warrants throughout Stanislaus County.
Detectives were still interviewing people Sunday evening; officer Scott Nelson, spokesman for the Modesto Police Department, said no arrests had yet been made.
"It's more of a general effort to interrupt criminal gang activity that's been on a recent increase in Stanislaus County," he said.
Agents from the Modesto police, Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, Ceres Police Department, Turlock Police Department and the FBI took part in the searches, which occurred Sunday morning and early afternoon.
Nelson said the searches were not related to any specific recent cases. He could not say how many searches were conducted, nor how many people were involved, although he estimated that at least 50 law enforcement members participated.
They targeted homes of known gang members in an effort to "build knowledge," Nelson said.
It's not uncommon for the agencies to pool their resources and do a warrant sweep.
"We've probably done this two or three times a year the last couple years," Nelson said.
With each agency experiencing cutbacks in recent years, working together on such efforts has become even more important, authorities said.
Nelson said investigators would continue interviewing people and reviewing what they found in the searches. Although the coordinated effort isn't formalized like others, such as the Stanislaus Drug Enforcement Agency and the Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force, agencies will continue to work together to fight gangs as a team.
"Vigorously combating any increase in criminal activity, sharing criminal knowledge and prudently using valuable resources represent a few of the beneficial outcomes of combining the resources of all involved agencies," Modesto police said in a news release. "This is an ongoing investigative effort between all involved agencies and detectives as they continue to work throughout the day processing the results of these search warrants."
Bee staff writer Patty Guerra can be reached at [email protected] or (209) 578-2343.
Copyright 2012 - The Modesto Bee, Calif.
