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Code Enforcement, Sheriff's Department Team Up To Clean Up Sacramento County Trouble Spots

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (CBS13) — One step at a time, a Sacramento County officer is making huge steps in transforming a troubled area as part of an innovative way to fight crime.

For years, the stretch known as The Avenues has been considered one of the most crime-ridden areas in Sacramento County.

Drugs and gangs keep law enforcement in the area that stretches from 47th Avenue to Highway 99, Franklin Boulevard to the 600 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

In December of 2007, six days before Christmas, Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Vu Nguyen was gunned down while chasing a suspect running from a known gang house.

Many vowed to honor his memory by making changes to the same streets where he took his last breath.

But for years after his murder, that effort failed.

Now, Sacramento County code enforcement officer Trent Freitas is leading the way to change that.

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You won't find Freitas in a sheriff's patrol car, or with a gun.

"I'm unarmed..I have pepper spray and that's it," he said.

He's armed with only good intentions.

His boss Carl Simpson helped come up with a plan to take back the neighborhood by using Freitas and his 15-year background in law enforcement with others.

"I believe that we complement the police department and the police department efforts," Simpson said.

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The task force made up of around half a dozen deputies, a couple of probation officers and some code enforcement officers focuses on problem properties in the neighborhood, like an apartment complex that had been taken over by gang members.

Those who call the complex home today consider it a nice place to live, and it's one of Freitas' daily stops.

Freitas considers this job one of the most rewarding he's ever had.

"I drive around I talk to people; I go into their units; I check and make sure, 'cause I get text messages—they have cockroaches, they have a water leak, their electricity's not working, they text you directly, or they call me directly while I'm at work or at home," he said. "I'm not out here to arrest people. I'm not out here to do anything but make it a better living place for the people out here..that's all I'm out here to do."

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department says crime is down in the area, but calls for service in The Avenues have gone up. That's a good thing, though, as people are no longer afraid to blow the whistle on those with bad intentions.

And it's not just violent crime that's down. Illegal dumping is happening less often, which makes a big difference on its own.

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"We believe that when people drive through neighborhoods and they look dilapidated, there's junk cars, there's debris, that is kind of a hidden message that it's okay to do crime here," he said.

And that perhaps is the message delivered by the groundbreaking program—it's not OK to not care about where you live; it's not OK to go back to how things used to be when they were dangerous and deadly.

From one officer's death, new life has finally been pumped into a section of Sacramento County bursting not with gunfire, but with pride.

"The reason why I do this is for them—for the children for the families, for the moms," he said. "Nothing can compare or show the impact of what we've done out here, except for bringing families back out here and having kids come out here and play and having families feel safe to walk down the street and take their kids to school."

County code enforcement is working on expanding the program to other problem areas in the county.

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