The Sunnyvale Sun

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Public safety sweeps net unsuspecting parole violators

By JASON GOLDMAN-HALL

As part of their efforts to keep Sunnyvale ranked one of the safest cities in the United States, the Department of Public Safety routinely sweeps it looking for parole violators.

The most recent sweep in August resulted in the arrest of seven people. Members of the Special Enforcement Team issued warrants for nine others.

The team, known as SET, worked with California parole officers, gang enforcement officers, patrol officers, dispatchers, U.S. marshals and members of the Special Weapons and Tactics team.

During one check, a registered sex offender was found naked at his computer. He admitted to SET officers that he had been viewing child pornography and was arrested at the site. The computer he was using was taken, and he was sent to prison.

In another of the 19 stops made by officers, 50 grams of methamphetamine, cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms were found along with $5,900 in cash. At the same location, officers also found two handguns, one of which had been reported stolen.

The parole violator and two other people were arrested for possession of drugs for sale, possession of a loaded firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of stolen property.

SET officers will continue to look for the nine people for whom new warrants were issued. The nine could be arrested in the next round of parole sweeps, but the city will not say when the sweeps will be conducted, only that they are done several times a year.

"The goal--quite frankly--is that we never want the bad guys to know when we're going to be coming around," said communications officer John Pilger. "We want them all to know that if they're going to do bad things, Sunnyvale is not the place to be doing it."