Marcos Bretón: A big city needs a big police force

Fifteen home invasions in the Natomas neighborhood since June 1 – many of them allegedly committed by gun-waving youths – and people wonder why?

It's time to wake up, drop the denial, look around.

Sacramento is a big city with an alarming crime rate, second highest of all major cities in California. Sacramento's Police Department is too small, and will be down 90 sworn officers by year's end from a previously inadequate force of 804.

And even with more cops, we're past the point of thinking this kind of thing won't happen in Sacramento.

No. We're not talking easy fixes here. Natomas is a sign of our times.

To start with, this star-crossed neighborhood north of downtown is not a mecca of absentee residents with flexible morals.

The residents of Natomas are engaged. With almost no notice, more than 400 people turned out for a community meeting Monday night where police and civic leaders addressed the home invasion spree.

The people of Natomas rallied through an elaborate network of e-mail groups, chat rooms and Internet postings.

"Going door to door is not popular in Natomas," said Angelique Ashby, a 33-year-old consultant and Natomas resident. "It's a connectivity community. … With e-mails, you can plaster all of Natomas in eight minutes."

To illustrate the point, Ashby said she was recently in San Diego, got an e-mail that an alarm was going off on her street and alerted Sacramento police from hundreds of miles away.

"I knew about it before the police did," she said.

What does this mean? That if 15 home invasions happened in Natomas, they can happen anywhere in town. That's why this is a story.

"We're still in denial that we're a big city," Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel said Tuesday. "We want to think that Sacramento is a small town."

We do. Our collective culture is built on this outdated idea, and it manifests itself in many ways.

It's tough to find, for example, anyone in law enforcement or public life who can explain why Sacramento has a small police force.

Why?

It shouldn't take the coldblooded acts of teenagers waving guns in the faces of terrified women to wake people up.

But if that's what it takes then that's where we are. There are eight people between the ages of 15 and 20 who are locked up and accused of stalking easy targets.

Police say they'd spot an open garage or a woman unloading cars of small children – and they'd strike with a disturbing lack of fear or empathy.

Can you imagine your wife and children cowering while a virtual kid waves a gun in their faces – then takes almost nothing, and seems to revel in the perverted thrill of it?

"The bigger issue is why a 15-year-old thinks it's OK to stick a gun in someone's face," said Capt. Daniel Hahn of the Sacramento Police Department.

Why? Part of the reason has to be that the parents and guardians of the youths locked up in connection with the home invasions did a terrible job – and their neighborhoods paid a horrible price for it.

And you know what? That's life in a big city, where good and bad live side by side. We can't wish Sacramento back to what it was. We can shape civic priorities to address the new realities.

About the writer:

• Reach Marcos Bretón at (916) 321-1096. Watch him at 6:15 a.m. today on News 10. Listen to him at 7:40 a.m. today on NewsTalk 1530 KFBK. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/breton.