California: New Task Force To Curb Gun-Related Home Violence

Officials in the U.S. county of Santa Clara in Northern California are considering creating a new task force of law enforcement to curb the rise in domestic violence-related to gun crime, a local television station reported Monday.

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Santa Clara's Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Cindy Chavez is pushing a plan to set aside about US$750,000 each year to fund the new team.

The main task of this new division will be to intervene in domestic disputes in a timely manner before such disturbances become violent or fatal by family members in possession of weapons, KTVU TV reported.

Local officials are trying to fill a void where police officers often do not have a legally coordinated way to prevent domestic violence suspects from carrying weapons.

The news outlet cited a case in June 2019 in which a desperate man shot and killed four members of his own family in a domestic dispute before committing suicide in San Jose, a major California Bay Area technology center about 70 miles south of San Francisco.

Such cases of domestic violence turned into massacres have steadily increased over the past decade, according to Santa Clara officials.

"We know that any weapon that is out there illegally held has the potential for violence," KTVU quoted San Jose Police Department Deputy Chief Heather Randol.

The new task force will consist of three analysts, a prosecutor and an investigator, according to officials.