The piercing snap of gunfire in the night is routine for Santa Rosa resident Kathy Ferrell, and so is fear. I pray every night that it doesn't hit one of my children. I mean, the police are down here all the time, but always after the fact. I guess that's the way it is with crime. I, myself, as a person, am fed up.
Gangs are still a problem, but things have improved, police say.
That was March 1996. Three years later, it's still a rough neighborhood, but things have changed for the better. In 1998, the SRPD received a community crime-resistance grant that funds two patrol officers in the area. The neighborhood definitely is beginning to demonstrate a greater ability to push the gangs out. It just didn't feel right.