More than two dozen members of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office swept through parts of the South Bay Thursday morning, sweeping through neighborhoods looking for the area's most violent gang members.
By 11 a.m., the team had arrested four people. Deputies were targeting about 15 homes, hoping to take into custody any gang member who had violated the terms of their probation, which could mean using drugs, having a weapon or wearing gang colors. One of the arrests Thursday included a man accused of violating a restraining order, and another man was caught wearing gang clothes, according to deputies. A woman was also arrested on methamphetamine charges.
Sgt. Jose Cardoza said the team, who works with probation officers, routinely go out and conduct gang sweeps. He emphasized that these operations are independent of the recent jump in crime and gang homicides in San Jose.
Deputies realize that their sweeps don't actually deter most people from entering gangs, and despite their best efforts, there are still about 100 different gangs wreaking havoc in Santa Clara County.
But that doesn't mean that deputies such as Sgt. Kyle Benner doesn't want to keep trying: "If I can take a gang off the street, that's still a lot of satisfaction."
