The Marysville Police Department is no longer part of the
regional gang and drug task force that it helped create.
Police Chief Wallace Fullerton says state grants from the
Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement made Marysville's participation in
the NET-5 task force possible.
The bureau's budget was cut by $70 million last year and the
grants ended.
FULLERTON: "We had a full-time officer. We had paid for the cost of clerical support. We assisted with the actual cost of some of the routine items of NET-5 over the years. Because of budget issues, we have had to slowly withdraw our financial support."
Sutter County Sheriff J. Paul Parker says the task force has had a lot of success with a proactive approach.
PARKER: "We went at it in an intelligence-led effort where
we could find out who's gearing up to start a gang or turf war, or
who's mad at who and try to prevent these shootings."