Renton police find success combating juvenile crime with new unit

RENTON, Wash. — 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.

Assault cases have dropped by more than half.

Cases of gas station robberies with a firearm plummeted from 21 in 2023, to just two cases so far this year.

“While it’s impossible to say that our efforts are 100% correlated to the drop in arrests, word on the street is that Renton is not worth it,” said spokesperson, Meeghan Black.

Renton Police Chief Jon Schuldt says the officers, part of the VCU, are also SWAT and have tactical training, as well as the skills to follow a case through from beginning to end.

Some of the officers’ work includes working closely with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to make sure prosecutors have what they need to build a case, as well as making a point to aggressively go after repeat offenders.

“We’ve seen a significant drop off in the amount of violent crimes being committed by juveniles,” Schuldt said. “They need to be held accountable for the crimes that they’re committing,” he said.

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