Twenty-three gang members and their affiliates were arrested in Kent, Auburn, Renton, Tukwila and Des Moines as part of a multi-agency crackdown.
More than 50 officers from 12 city, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies participated in the Saturday night enforcement emphasis.
“It went well,” said Kent Police Cmdr. Rafael Padilla. “Whenever you take down 23 on one night that’s a good showing.”
Officers conducted covert operations, warrant arrests on several high profile gang members and high visibility patrols of hotspot areas known for gang activity.
“We visited the homes of several warrant subjects, which included both apartment and single-family dwellings,” Padilla said about the arrests. “We also conducted operations on stretches of State Route 99 were several of the narcotics offenses occurred.”
The individuals were arrested for a variety of charges including distribution of narcotic, possession of narcotics, felony warrants, DOC warrants and outstanding felony charges from recent investigations.
“We conducted the first of several coordinated operations aimed at disrupting and dismantling criminal street gangs in South King County and the surrounding region,” Padilla said. “We are committed to keeping our communities free of gang violence and (Saturday night’s) effort is just one example of that.”
The Valley Gang Unit coordinated the emphasis. The Valley Gang Unit formed in January and includes representatives from the Kent Police, Auburn Police, Renton Police, Port of Seattle, King County Metro Police, the Department of Homeland Security and the state Department of Corrections.
Other participating agencies in the Saturday crackdown included the King County Sheriff’s Office, Seattle Police, Tukwila Police, Federal Way Police, Bellevue Police, the King County Regional Intelligence Group and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas helped form the Valley Gang Unit after the car-show shooting in July at a Kent strip mall that injured 12 people.
Padilla said existing gang units in Seattle, King County and Pierce County have helped, but South King County needed its own task force because of the gang activity in its cities.
“It’s much more dispersed in the community,” Padilla said about gang activity. “It used to be in certain communities. Now it’s in bits and pieces here and there.”
Padilla said gang members also have changed from fighting over territories to fighting over profits from drugs, prostitution, weapons, burglaries and robberies.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” he said.
In addition to working with police agencies, the gang units work with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to prosecute gang members after their arrest.
“We work with them to get a gang enhancement charge so they go to prison even longer than they normally would,” Padilla said.
With cooperation at the local, state and federal level, Padilla said the gang enforcement emphasis could have similar results to the state auto theft task force that helped cut down on the number of vehicle thefts in the state over the last few years.
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