Napa County civil grand jury report reveals gang activity is targeting younger children in schools

A newly released grand jury investigation found that not only is gang activity on the rise in Napa County but gang participation and recruitment is now starting to target younger children.

A 2023-24 grand jury report discovered gang activity grew after elementary and middle schools returned to in-person learning after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report further states that although gang activity “ebbs and flows” in Napa, citing the opinions of prosecutors, educators, probation officers and law enforcement but offering no data or specific figures, there was a rise in gang activity once children finally returned to the classrooms.

The report suggests children had more free time post-pandemic and that gangs established a sense of belonging after an isolating time with many youths left unsupervised.

And gang members are now recruiting younger children, the report offers, due to the odds of a minor being criminally charged being significantly smaller compared with an adult gang member.

Middle school students are now bringing homemade and untraceable ghost guns to campus, and wearing well-known gang colors, according to law enforcement interviews in the report. There has also been an increase in tagging, or graffiti.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Napa Police Chief Jenifer Gonzales provided the council members and community with a response to the report.

“We are very in tune with the individuals that are representing gangs in our community,” said Gonzales. “We have officers that are trained and dedicated to knowing their names, knowing who is connected to whom and if they are committing crimes to focus on deterring that crime.”

According to the report, Napa High School has experienced the most gang activity of all the schools in the county, other than Camille Creek Community School, which administrators estimate about a third of its students are involved in some type of gang.

“Schools are impacted by what occurs in their community,” said Julie Bordes, a spokesperson for the Napa Valley Unified School District.

Educators and law enforcement were said to unanimously believe that while Napa is deemed a wealthy community, the city lacks after-school activities for at-risk children that could help prevent them from joining in with gang activities.

The report asks that more after-school activities and sports programs be available and implemented to combat gang recruitment opportunities.

One program, the Legacy Youth Program, which helped at-risk youth in the Napa Valley Unified School District, has been asked to be re-implemented.

After its termination in June 2020, the grand jury is now asking the Napa Unified School District and Napa County Office of Education to reinstate a program like Legacy, along with other gang prevention programs in every school.

The two organizations are also being asked to restore and expand free high school vocational programs by the end of 2025.

In order to address these issues, the report asks that school officials provide earlier education for gang intervention for both students and parents, in both middle and elementary schools.

“We agree that the key is addressing potential gang activity in elementary and middle schools,” said Seana Wagner, a spokesperson for the Napa County Office of Education, in an email. “We partner with the Napa Valley Unified School District to run robust and well-attended after-school and summer programs at their elementary and middle school sites.”

As for the Napa Police Department and Napa County Sheriff’s Office, both have assigned school resource officers to all the middle and high schools in Napa and American Canyon to promote campus safety and build relationships with students.

The grand jury proposes that the police department expand their Juvenile Diversion Program, an intervention program that helps divert students who have been truant or committed minor criminal offenses and offers the opportunity to avoid juvenile court.

The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the report before Napa County Sheriff Oscar Ortiz files a response to the presiding judge, according to Henry Wofford, the department’s public information officer.