'Operation Groundhog' roots out 42 suspected gang members in Watson...

Of the 41 men arrested, 17 remained jailed late last week, County Jail records showed. Lee also said some of the suspects already have been convicted, but declined to elaborate. The status of the juvenile's case was not available.

Why are only 17 of these guys still in jail? They certainly should be deemed a threat to the community and have bail set to an amount prohibitive to their release. Come on Bob Lee, get your department to put a priority on keeping these guys in jail. Argue for raising bail anytime a victim is a suspected or documented gang member.

great, so we lock these guys up forever? or just a little while, until they come back?

Great job WPD!
I acknowledge how much hard work went into running a huge program like this, writing search warrants, arrest reports, and generally building cases against these gang members.
This was a great start to a huge problem that will take multi agency cooridination to continue to tackle.

Awesome job by the boys in blue. Truely. Now the judges are doing their part by putting two-thirds of them back on the streets. Elections coming up, folks. Remember these judges.

More like "Operation Cockroach" since that is more like what they (gang bangers) are.

Solid!!! keep up the work and continue to round up and smash on these guys. It is a great first step, just keep on keeping on, soon they will be in prison, or they will leave hopefully! Then it is on to the next gang and so on. With a problem this big and growing you have to pick a spot to begin and just put your head down and work! Great job, to bad it wasn't done on Cinco De Mayo, that would have been a great message, We declare OUR freedom from the mexican gangs that threaten all of us with their dangerous and reckless actions. GET EM!

Your tax dollars at work!!

Santa Cruz for 42 years wrote:

Solid!!! keep up the work and continue to round up and smash on these guys. It is a great first step, just keep on keeping on, soon they will be in prison, or they will leave hopefully! Then it is on to the next gang and so on. With a problem this big and growing you have to pick a spot to begin and just put your head down and work! Great job, to bad it wasn't done on Cinco De Mayo, that would have been a great message, We declare OUR freedom from the mexican gangs that threaten all of us with their dangerous and reckless actions. GET EM!

Wednesday was cinco de mayo. That is when the warrants were served according to the article. ha ha

Excellent job WPD!
Now, let's hope the courts do their job and put these guys away.

pinches gringos wrote:

<quoted text>
If the cops rounded up a bunch of gringos and called them gang members all of you would be crying. Why don't they say which gang they belong to ? Because they are not gang members 1

Are you even trying to be kind of serious????

pinches gringos wrote:

<quoted text>
If the cops rounded up a bunch of gringos and called them gang members all of you would be crying. Why don't they say which gang they belong to ? Because they are not gang members 1

YEAH RIGHT!! A bunch of innocent bystanders caught up in a gang search with their guns, drugs and their gang tattoos.

Good work, WPD.

Keep the pressure on.

Just remember the prison are virtually run by the gangs. Locking these guys up looks good on TV but changes almost nothing in the streets.

I am curious as to whether any of these gang members, who have already proven they do not respect the law, were checked for legal status. If so, were those who broke the law by crossing the border illegally, held for deportation? How about the parole violators? Were they held for return to prison/jail to finish their sentences, which is what is supposed to happen if one breaks parole. A follow up article is needed here.

I am so shocked at the Hispanic racial profiling! Next thing you know, Mafia movies will feature Italians.

Are the home addresses for the guys available? A map needs to be created and posted on the Internet like the registered sex offenders database.

pinches gringos wrote:

<quoted text>
If the cops rounded up a bunch of gringos and called them gang members all of you would be crying. Why don't they say which gang they belong to ? Because they are not gang members 1

It says right in the article that they were targeting Poorside. Can you read?

So if the "Poorsiders" are the smallest Gang in Watsonville , does that mean that the WPD is working for the Majority Gang (Norteno's).
It would take an operation like this , once a week county wide for several years to rid the county of Gangs. 1 raid every 5 years just won't do it .

How the hell did they get out on bail???
Which judge did that??
Are they running for re-here is the follow-up article??

Great job WPD!! Thanks for getting this scum off the street. Keep it up!!