CA attorney general hails Stockton violence prevention program as model to curb crime
California Attorney General Rob Bonta hailed the City of Stockton's gun violence prevention program as a model that will be used throughout the state.
Operation Peacekeeper works with troubled youth by offering mentorship, resources and case management to curb gun violence.
Kashon Andrews, 25, attended the program.
"It's been a greater life for me, staying out of trouble," Andrews said. "It was a little rowdy, a little hectic, between just the family problems, and dealing with the streets."
Andrews said he had been in and out of trouble as a teen and his crimes led the Stockton Police Department to identify him as high-risk. That label caught the attention of "Operation Peacekeeper," which is now under Bonta's spotlight.
"Stockton's the model. They're at the forefront," the attorney general said. "A proven model, a model that many other cities and communities can learn from and benefit from.”
"Honestly, I probably could have ended up back in jail. Or, possibly, shot, killed," Andrews said of his own life experiences prior to joining the program.
With the lessons he learned, he plans to reach out to youth who now look up to him, with the goal of making Stockton a better place.
Overall homicides were up in 2020, but the director of the Office of Violence Prevention said most of those crimes in the city of Stockton were related to domestic violence and that gang-motivated crime declined.