GREELEY – A festering gang problem in the neighboring communities of Greeley and Evans has prompted police departments to combine forces.
An Evans officer is being assigned to the six-member Greeley gang unit to help investigate gang crimes in the city. That officer also will act as a liaison for the Greeley unit when it conducts gang investigations in Evans, officials said.
This, hopefully, will break down a wall between the two cities when it comes to tackling gang violence.
“We know there is a gang problem in Greeley and a gang problem in Evans, but we’ve never really shared intelligence about it,” said Evans Police Chief Rick Brandt.
He took over the 30-member Evans Police Department in May after retiring from the Aurora Police Department, where he served as a commander. Brandt said he wanted his force to mirror the type of cooperation practiced between Denver metro departments.
He found a willing partner in Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner, who first suggested the two departments share gang information. Garner became chief in January 2006, two years after Greeley saw six gang-related murders.
“Crooks don’t have the slightest idea of jurisdictions,” Garner said. “We have gang members living in Evans who commit crimes in Greeley and the other way around. So it’s good to work on this together.”
One of the 2004 gang killings involved an Evans man, Isaac “Shotgun” Benavidez, who helped two other gang members shoot and kill 24-year-old Adam Perez in an execution-style slaying in the basement of a south Greeley home. Benavidez was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2006.
There are 500 known gang members in Greeley, and about 40 or 50 are directly linked to criminal activity, Garner said.
There has been a drop in gang killings and other violence that began in 2004. That could be due in part to a flurry of public meetings about gang influences in Greeley and Evans, officials said.
But that doesn’t mean gangs have left the area, Garner said. “It means mostly, they (gang members) are such bad shots that they have not been able to kill each other. But all that could change over a weekend.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
Working together
A comparison of gang activity and police presence in Greeley and Evans
Greeley
Population: 90,000
Sworn officers: 138
Identified gang members: 300 (Police say between 40 or 50 commit crimes.)
Evans
Population: 17,800
Sworn officers: 30
