San Jose

SJPD Shifting Truancy Officers to Help Patrol Burglary-Plagued Berryessa Neighborhood

San Jose Police Department truancy officers who were recently shifted to curb burglaries in the Almaden Valley are on the move again.

The department is now placing the truancy officers in the Berryessa neighborhood to combat a new burglary problem in the area.

"We're going to reassign them," SJPD spokesperson Albert Morales said. "What we do is we reevaluate where some of the crime trends are moving to."

Police are still crunching the numbers in Berryessa, but the Crime Reports website show unofficially at least 19 burglaries over the last week in the neighborhood.

Being considered a burglary hotspot in not sitting well with seniors at the Berryessa Community Center.

Evergreen and North San Jose are also seeing a spike in burglaries, according to police. But with limited resources, police commanders now must decide who gets the four daily truancy cars next.

In February, the department shifted four daily patrol cars that were assigned to catching truants with the Truancy Abatement Burglary Suppression program to the Almaden Valley.

The shift in resources helped nab three suspects in connection to a series of burglaries throughout the city.

"Our focus is on trying to reduce the amount of burglary calls and incidents happening in those areas," Morales said.

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