Here we go again — gangs on the loose in Napa! Despite the online comments expressing surprise at their existence here in this paradise, it’s not new! From when I worked the streets in American Canyon as a deputy in the mid ‘70s to recent events that I’ve seen happen 32 years later, from my perspective as undersheriff, gangs in one form or another have always been here.

I had a sergeant once who likened waning gang issues in the media as “Water goes up, water goes down,” meaning that enforcement can force them to keep a lower profile, but like water they will eventually surface again if you do nothing to change their behavior from the start.

Law enforcement has always been the spearhead in combating the problem, but the police and sheriffs can’t do it alone. We need to collaborate with a lot of other agencies and most importantly with the families. In Napa we have been lucky to throw egos and self interests aside and collaborate with other agencies to help resolve this issue. For the most part, this anti-gang effort has been a joint operation since the beginning.

At least as early as 1989, then-Sheriff Gary Simpson had us start teaching the DARE program in county schools and Napa Police Chief Monez in the city schools. This later included the GREAT program, which taught gang resistance education. The sheriff’s department has had personnel assigned to the gang issues since at least 1995. Simpson also started a diversion-type program in association with Napa State Hospital in the mid-‘90s. The Sheriffs Activities League has expanded to include free activities for all kids during those “after-school hours” when many of the problems occur because there’s no supervision in the home. Under current Napa County Sheriff Douglas Koford’s leadership, we now have more than 700 participants in our SAL programs, many of whom could be considered “at risk.”

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the Napa Police Department put officers in the high schools. Sheriff Simpson authorized deputies to work in Liberty High School and the junior high school in American Canyon; Sheriff Koford and Chief Melton have continued that commitment with the Napa Office of Education and the Napa Valley Unified School District. Both of our agencies communicated well on what the “gangs” were up to. This communication was helpful in solving not only the Michael Arreguin homicide, but several others as well.

The Napa County Sheriff’s Department, the Napa Police Department, and the Napa District Attorney’s Office partnered with many other groups: Napa Juvenile and Adult Probation, the Napa courts, nonprofits like the Wolfe Center, CLARO, Aldea and others, to name a few. When public outcry finally occurred as a result of increased media attention and we had public support, we created gang task forces to address the issue on a multi-pronged level. These groups still meet on a regular basis in trying to address the issues. Unfortunately, it’s not enough.

What’s needed is not just more enforcement alone. What’s needed is the multi-pronged approach of education, enforcement, intervention, prosecution and counseling. What’s needed is families willing to step up and take responsibility for their own kids and seek help if they can’t handle the problems themselves. What’s needed are resources from government and private funding to provide the ability to deliver a planned multi-pronged approach. What’s needed is for us to elect leaders who know what the problems are and recognize what their citizens see as priority issues. What’s needed is to make those leaders address the issues with proper funding and accountability measures to carry out a plan to resolve this issue. What’s needed is less apathy about the problem from the community. Bottom line: It’s up to us as a community to collectively step up to the plate and deliver for our well-being and that of our kids.

(Loughran is Napa County Undersheriff.)