Merced leaders to discuss solutions to violence
In response to Merced County’s per capita murder rate – the highest in the state the past two statistical years – area elected officials have called a summit on Friday in Merced.
The public discussion on the $4.5 million Violence Interruption/Prevention Emergency Response, or VIPER, program is 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday at Merced City Hall, 678 W. 18th St.
Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced; Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno; and Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, will hold the public safety summit to present the program and other potential funding for reducing gang violence, according to a news release.
An item that Gray and Cannella added to the state budget would pay for the VIPER program, a sophisticated computer-based tool to collate, manage and put to use data gathered across law enforcement agencies – the California Highway Patrol, county Sheriff’s Office, city police departments, the district attorney, probation and more.
The goal is to help law enforcement anticipate problems, and, after they occur, prosecute them.
The homicides in Merced County have been a hot topic in recent months. In April, District Attorney Larry Morse II and Sheriff Vern Warnke were frustrated with the county’s response to the murder rate – 93 murders in four years – and chastised the Board of Supervisors and demanded more be done.
Other items in the state budget would provide funding for city police departments with fewer than 100 officers, the release said, and funding for security at UC Merced.
Other participants in the summit include Morse, Warnke, county Supervisor Hub Walsh, Merced Mayor Stan Thurston, Merced Police Chief Norm Andrade and Special Agent Dean Johnston of the state Department of Justice.
The public is invited to attend, and the summit will be live streamed on the city and county websites.
This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Merced leaders to discuss solutions to violence."