HEMET: 1 hour with HPD’s Gang Task Force yields 2 pursuits, 2 felony stops, arrests, more

HEMET — Suspected criminals, parolees and probationers, gang members, and even “jaywalkers” are taking notice of a marked increase in recent activity and arrests within the city.

According to many City leaders and Police Department officials much of the PD’s recent 44% increase in overall arrests in 2017 compared to 2016, flurry of high-profile education and enforcement operations, criminal investigations, and arrests are direct results of  funding gained from voter approved  Measure “U” and its public safety-related 1-cent sales tax, passed last November.

With that new funding Hemet PD was able to beef up its sworn staffing level to a current force of 89 sworn police officers, the highest it has been since 2011 when the department’s sworn staff was slashed to just 55 officers.

The addition of so many new officers has allowed the PD to not only bolster and re-invigorate its patrol operations, the funding allowed the enhancement of previously existing special teams as well as the formation of several new special teams.

The department’s Gang Task Force and Gang Impact Team, R.O.C.S. and R.O.C.S. 2.0 Teams, Traffic Team, and other special teams have become a vital and necessary component in the PD’s ongoing efforts.

Between several recent major criminal investigations and arrests as well as a pair of recent, high-profile Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Enforcement operations, word has started getting out that the PD is staffed enough that it will no longer be turning a blind eye to the City’s many problems.

The ongoing city-wide enforcement efforts to clean up the City’s streets and rid the area of the criminals who stalk San Jacinto Valley’s citizenry are continuing to impact both the targeted criminals as well as the citizens officers are sworn to protect.

SEE RELATED: HEMET: 21 “jaywalkers” cited in pedestrian safety  crack down

SEE RELATED: HEMET: City’s “Operation Sign Twirler” nets 16 citations, 1 felony arrest

SEE RELATED: HEMET: Walking away after reportedly causing disturbance, man critically injured crossing Hwy 74

LEADING THE HEMET HEADLINES: UPDATED: Man accused of groping girl at Menifee park released spotted at 2 Hemet parks

Last Friday was no exception and during one single hour spent following Hemet PD’s Gang Task Force activities, GTF members were involved in two short vehicle pursuits and two high-risk, felony traffic stops. They made several arrests during that hour and also responded to a major injury traffic collision involving a pedestrian.

GTF members conducting proactive patrol near the Hemet Valley Mall just after 7:15 p.m., attempted to conduct a traffic enforcement stop on a white Chevy Silverado pickup truck that was driving through the mall’s parking lot.

Despite the officers flashing their vehicle’s lights and warbling the vehicle’s siren, the driver of the truck refused to yield and continued driving, fleeing west through the parking lot toward Kirby Street. GTF members radioed City emergency dispatchers regarding the failure to yield and made a priority request for assistance.

By the time the truck was speeding out of the mall parking lot heading northbound on Kirby, patrol officers and other special team’s members were swooping onto Kirby from every direction, at which time the truck’s driver wisely yielded.

Marked and unmarked vehicles stacked up behind the now pulled over pickup with patrol officers blocking Kirby and shutting down traffic in both directions between Florida and Devonshire Avenues.

GTF and patrol officers detained the two male occupants at gunpoint and searched the truck. Both men were later transported to Hemet PD and the truck was towed from the scene.

Just minutes after clearing the scene of that traffic stop and barely two miles away, GTF members attempted to conduct another traffic enforcement stop. The vehicle was described as a small, black hatchback with expired registration stickers.

The driver refused to yield, immediately trying to speed away from the GTF officials. As GTF members radioed in updates, more than a half-dozen marked and unmarked police vehicles converged on the area, sealing off every possible avenue for escape.

Seeing he was completely blocked in and had nowhere left to run, the driver eventually pulled over on the 200 block of N. Mayflower Street, near Mayflower Place. Task Force members, a K-9 Handler, and patrol officers quickly lined up behind the car.

Armed with handguns, shotguns and rifles, as well as less-lethal options including bean-bag shotguns, pepperball rifles, and Tasers, nearly a dozen officers took up protected positions behind their vehicles’ opened doors and other nearby cover. With the K-9 barking excitedly – anxiously hoping for an opportunity to personally introduce himself to another Hemet hoodlum – one officer calmly coordinated the scene while calling the driver out from the vehicle.

Once again, as with the previous felony stop just minutes earlier, officers blocked off all traffic between Florida and Devonshire Avenues, while the driver was detained at gunpoint.

Despite Hemet’s recently launched Pedestrian and Driver Safety Enforcement Program and two recent high-profile operations within the city aimed at pedestrians who choose to illegally and dangerously cross the street outside of marked cross walks, officers and other emergency first responders found themselves racing to the scene of yet another accident involving a jaywalking pedestrian.

Other than the officer transporting the driver who had just tried to flee, every available officer, including Task Force and other special team members raced the two and a half miles to where a man lay barely breathing and critically injured the middle of the intersection, after being struck by a white BMW.

The tremendous impact launched the victim up and over the hood, windshield and roof of the BMW and knocked the man completely out of his pants.

After the victim was life-flighted to an area trauma center in critical condition, officials learned the collision was possibly related to some sort of disturbance involving the downed jaywalker at a nearby Walgreens, just two tenths of a mile away.

Less than five minutes after clearing the scene of the accident, GTF officers were heard making the next of countless additional stops they made before the end of just another Friday night’s shift.

Hemet PD has not yet released any information about any of the three incidents or arrests.

Click any image to open full size gallery.

Timothy Franzese/Public Safety Incidents video

‎Hemet PD Gang Task Force and Gang Impact Team members conduct one of several stops during their high-profile duties today. Kelcie Marie‎/Hemet Eye News video

 

Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 46, recently moved to Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, The Valley Chronicle and Anza Valley Outlook as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident.

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center and Lake Elsinore Station, along with other locations.