Redding PD’s NPU makes 1,500th arrest

January 19, 2019 Trevor Montgomery

In January 2016, the Redding Police Department created the Neighborhood Police Unit (NPU) to address community concerns regarding a significant rise in crime throughout our city. This temporarily funded, four-officer unit has the ability to be proactive when addressing community problems rather than only being reactive, which has become the norm for our patrol officers due to budget, personnel cuts, and increased calls for service the past several years.

LEADING THE SCNS HEADLINES:
Car plummets 50 ft off 299E into Cedar Creek
Redding man in wheelchair hit by car, critically injured
Caught in the act of burglarizing storage unit, Burney man arrested

Since the unit’s creation over 3 years ago, NPU has focused its efforts on specific geographical locations in the City of Redding to include downtown, the Hilltop/Dana business corridor, and our parks and trails. In addition, NPU investigates suspected drug houses, patrols high crime areas, and works with community-based groups to identify growing crime trends throughout the City of Redding. Due to the diligence of citizens who report problems, along with the hard work of our officers, NPU made its 1,500^th arrest this month.

Of those 1,500 arrests, roughly 600 were felonies and 900 were misdemeanors. A majority of NPU arrests were narcotic related. Narcotics continue to be a major factor of the daily quality of life issues facing our community. From January 2016 to January 2019, NPU has seized a total of 12.87 pounds of methamphetamine, 10.73 pounds of heroin, and 1.04 pounds of cocaine. There are approximately 453 grams in a pound, and the average narcotic user ingests 0.1 grams of narcotics during each usage. To put it in perspective, NPU prevented about 58,301 doses of methamphetamine, 48,606 doses of heroin, and 4,707 doses of cocaine from being distributed into our community.

NPU would like to thank everyone for their continued support over the past three years. On January 15^th, 2019, the Redding City Council voted to permanently fund the Neighborhood Police Unit. We look forward to continuing the great partnership between the Redding Police Department and the citizens of Redding. NPU would also like to remind citizens they can report suspected drug activity or problem houses on the Redding Police Department’s webpage at https://news.reddingpolice.org/npu.

From Redding Police Department

Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 47, moved last year to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, The Valley Chronicle, and Anza Valley Outlook; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta 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. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s 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.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 28 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 15 – but soon to be 16 – grandchildren.