SANTA BARBARA, Calif.
-- Crime is up in Santa Barbara. Police say it's partly due to realignment bill
AB109.
Now, the Santa Barbara Police Department is revamping a
Criminal Impact Team Unit (C.I.T.) to combat the increased crime rate by repeat
offenders.
"They're career
criminals," says Santa Barbara Police Public Information Officer Riley Harwood.
"They do this type of crime over and over again so once they are back out in the
community, they often re-offend."
In fact, Santa Barbara
has seen 35 residential burglaries in the last month alone. In the next couple
of week, SBPD will launch its revamped Criminal Impact Team or
C.I.T. Unit.
"(It) allows
them to go out and help hold these people accountable," says Santa Barbara
Detective Dan McGrew.
The Criminal Impact
Unit will include four officers and one sergeant to try keep career criminals
off the street.
"A unit that can
go out and (doesn't) have a caseload and can be a proactive arm for the
detective bureau," says McGrew. "As well as assist with patrol problems or high
crime areas. They're just a do everything, fix-all. They can be changed at a
moments notice, type of group."
A group he hope will bring down the ten percent
increase in crime.
