Violence Suppression Unit

HISTORY

The Violence Suppression Unit (V.S.U.) was formed and activated in 1995, as a result of the Salinas Youth Firearms Violence Initiative.  The initiative was a one-year grant funded by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (C.O.P.S.).  The grant funded 16 sworn police officer positions for the V.S.U. (14 uniformed enforcement officers and 2 gang intelligence officers).  The unit was divided into two teams with opposing days off to provide seven-day-a-week coverage.

The grant also provided support and training for the entire police department in gang and handgun violence interdiction, specialized training for the V.S.U. in specific gang and firearm enforcement techniques and laptop computers for immediate "in the field" access to our current video mug system.  The video mug system provides photographs for rapid suspect identifications and apprehensions.  The grant also funded the development and implementation a Geographic Information System (G.I.S.) to track all of the Salinas Police Department's crime reports, gang members, gang territories and firearms related crimes throughout the City of Salinas.

In 1998, the V.S.U. was re-organized to expand its duties and responsibilities from exclusively focusing on youth firearm violence, to focusing on violence suppression as a whole.  By doing so, the Department’s S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons And Tactics) responsibilities were consolidated into the V.S.U.  At present, the V.S.U. enforcement team responds to all types of violent incidents, including any need for a tactical response team.

MISSION

The mission of the V.S.U. is divided into three parts:

1.     To collect information about gangs and gang members, investigate gang-related crimes, provide intelligence information and training to law enforcement personnel and use that information to proactively target and aggressively suppress gang/criminal activity.

2.      To provide highly trained and coordinated special weapons and tactics teams for unusual, high risk and unique events.

3.      To provide support for the missions of the other members of the Salinas Police Department.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

The V.S.U. enforcement team is primarily responsible for carrying out crime suppression by removing firearms from the hands of gang members and other criminals and targeting repeat offenders and criminal predators.  Flexibility in these areas is our greatest benefit.  Providing support to other units of the Department such as Patrol and Detectives has greatly contributed to the identification and apprehension of dangerous high-risk criminals from our community.

In addition to its crime suppression assignments, the V.S.U. is charged with handling those situations/events where tactical responses are needed.  The V.S.U. provides the Department with the seven-day a week coverage necessary for immediate response to high-risk situations, such as barricaded suspects, snipers and other unusual incidents.  Rapid deployment, surprise, extensive tactics training and thorough planning are the hallmark of successful the V.S.U. operations.

The intelligence team is responsible for identifying, validating, tracking and investigating criminal street gangs, their members and any other organized criminal activity trends that might be occurring.  They also provide updated training to law enforcement personnel and the public on the subject of gangs and they testify in court as gang experts.

PERSONNEL STRUCTURE

The V.S.U. Unit is under the command of the Investigations Division.  The Unit has one lieutenant who has overall command of the unit.  There are two sergeants who supervise two five-officer teams, four gang intelligence officers and two Monterey County probation officers.

The V.S.U. enforcement officers work in two-officer low profile patrol vehicles.  They self-initiate felony arrests and stop and detain suspicious individuals.  The V.S.U. officers have a rigorous training schedule which includes hazardous building searches, hostage rescue, crowd control, as well as weapons and tactics training.  Officers are required to maintain a superior level of physical fitness and are tested annually on a physical agility course.

The intelligence officers are four highly motivated individuals (2 two-person teams) who diligently collect, analyze and disseminate the latest gang/criminal activity information to members of the Salinas Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.  They also provide the community with gang education and awareness presentations geared toward individual organizations, parents, schools, non-profit organizations and other groups who have a desire to learn about gangs within our community.  These officers also act as liaisons to other local, state and federal agencies in the fight against organized crime.

Send to V.S.U. Investigations Division