As juvenile crime surges in Western Washington, Renton police say they’ve found success tackling the problem. The Renton Police Department soft-launched its new Violent Crime Unit (VCU) a few months ago—a team of six, made up of a sergeant and five officers.
Their work tackles both violent crime and repeat offenders, which inevitably ends up including a lot of cases that involve juveniles – including kids in gangs .
“We were able to positively identify one of our suspects… he is 15 years old,” said Sgt. Eric Gordon, a member of the VCU. “This particular individual is associated with a pretty violent street gang,” Gordon said.
The police department says the officers with the Violent Crime Unit will investigate a case and arrest suspects no matter where they’re located, even if the search takes them out of Renton.
Data from Renton PD shows juvenile crime is dropping significantly. The year is not over, but so far, there have only been 10 juvenile stolen vehicle cases in Renton, compared to 66 last year.