Ex-police chief remembers when Napa came to grips with gangs

By MARSHA DORGAN
Register Staff Writer

During his 17 years as Napa Police chief, Dan Monez saw his share of gang violence.

“It started in the early 1990s. On one weekend 10 young kids were shot on our streets. Drive-by shootings were happening two to three times a week,” Monez said.

“I think back and there is one image that really sticks in my mind. I was driving on Lincoln at Jefferson when I heard a popping sound. I thought at first it was a car backfiring. Then I heard it again and knew it was gunshots. I look over at Napa High, and I see this kid standing behind a tree, shooting a gun,” Monez said.

“He was shooting at someone across the street. It dawned on me — this is a shoot-out — at 3 p.m., across four lanes of traffic. And it’s happening in Napa,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘This is totally unacceptable.’”

Felix Bedolla, a community activist who grew up in Napa and who launched the Latino youth group Nuestra Esperanza, remembers gangs from his early years.

“I was aware of gangs in Napa from a very early age, when we were growing up, particularly in high school,” he said. “There was a period that I heard about some gang members being involved in car chases, where gunfire was exchanged. I’d hear about some gang members shooting at police. Even though I heard about it way back then, it tended to be more isolated.”

Then, in 1998, Michael Arreguin, 18, was shot and killed.

“Prior to that,” said Monez, “almost all of the gang violence was confined to places where gang members either lived or gathered. But it took a gang-related murder in a nice neighborhood for the community to wake up and say ‘Wow, this is my problem.’”

Monez said it was then that the entire community, law enforcement, non-profits, churches, youth groups and the “everyday Joe who lived in Napa” said ‘that’s enough.’”

“We developed a 10-year plan to end gang violence in Napa,” Monez remembered.

“At that time when the gang violence was really rearing its ugly head, we had (education-based prevention programs including) DARE, GREAT, school resource officers in the high and middle schools, (criminal justice) diversion programs with a social worker and two officers,” Monez said.

Gang violence spun out of control in other cities. But, Monez said, “Napa was different. Unlike other communities, we came together ... quickly and created this plan, which included many different countywide groups, all the way from government to churches. We had scheduled meetings. The plan was implemented and it worked,” Monez said.

But then, in what turned out to be both good news and bad news, according to Monez, “the ax fell.”

“The plan worked so well that gang violence dropped. The community thought things were fixed. So things began to dismantle. Since gang violence was no longer in the face of the public, the funds went away. Some of the best and most effective entities we had are gone ... Nuestra Esperanza, for example made a huge difference in the plan to stop gang violence. It’s gone. The DARE, GREAT programs are wonderful programs geared to the intervention of early gang involvement for kids — gone. Because of budget cuts, they are all gone.”

Monez said the success of the effort was its downfall, and admits the gang violence problems have been on the back burner the past few years.

“Gang violence is ongoing problem, almost daily,” he said. “But it’s not an issue until it happens big time, right in your face,” he said.

“So once again we have to get these programs going. We’re in the rear from where we started 10 years ago. Most everything went away ... the non-profits, programs ...”

Back then, he said, “We let the offenders know that if you choose to be a gang member, we are going to make it as miserable as we can for you. We have to get back to that square.”

Register staff Writer Carlos Villatoro contributed to this story.

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