23 arrested in major King County gang crackdown

Reports from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and
Police Chiefs released this month show that crime rates
have gone down across the board in our state.

There’s less violent crime, property crime, fewer arrests,
and it’s even safer for police officers. According to the
report, no law enforcement officers were killed in the
line of duty last year.

Even so, a new gang sweep task force is working to make
King County safer from violent crime, gangs, and drugs.
Their first major sweep on Friday resulted in the arrest
of 23 of violent offenders.

“I think what we’d like the everyday citizen to know is
that we are paying attention, we do realize that this is
an issue that’s very important, and we want them to know
we’re going to do everything we can to make their
community safer,” said Commander Rafael Padilla, who is
working with the task force.

The new gang sweep is organized by the Valley Gang Unit,
which is a force made up of 13 different cooperating
law enforcement agencies: the Bellevue Police Department,
the Seattle Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms, the Department of Homeland
Security, and the Washington Department of Corrections,
among others.

In all, the task force has fifty officers dedicated to
reducing violent crime that results from street
gangs. The task force has used undercover operations,
working with the King County Regional Intelligence Group,
and put in more high visibility patrols in targeted high
crime areas.

“I would like to tell the bad guys that we are going to be
active. And the information that we have is better than
it’s ever been before, so it’s going to be harder for them
to do what they do. We’re going to do everything we can do
to dismantle and disrupt their operations,” says officer
Padilla.

Specifically, the coordinated effort is targeting south
King County, from Skyway to Federal Way, including parts
of the Eastside, like south Bellevue. These areas are
particularly prone to violent crime and drug trafficking.

So far, their efforts have resulted in twenty three high
profile gang member and gang affiliates arrested for
violent felonies and outstanding warrants. Many of the
arrests also involved drugs.

“There were several varieties of drugs actually seized
as part of the arrest process: marijuana, cocaine,
methamphetamines, things of that sort,” said Padilla.

This is only the first phase of many more coordinated
activities between the city, county, state and federal law
enforcement agencies that make up King County’s new gang
task force.

“We plan to continue to go out and mobilize and do this on
a regular basis to deal with the criminal street gangs and
do whatever we can to reduce gang violence in south King
County,” Padilla said.