The San Jose Police Department and the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office are making extra provisions for this weekend's Cinco de Mayo festivities.
San Jose police said their preparations include more on-duty officers and traffic diversion plans.
The sheriff's office will also put more deputies on duty and focus on patrolling a Cinco de Mayo festival at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on Sunday, according to sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza.
"Historically, we have gang-related type crime at the fairgrounds during the Cinco de Mayo Festival," Cardoza said.
He said last year there were 12 arrests at the festival, seven of which were gang-related.
Cardoza said that deputies and gang detectives from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office would be accompanied by county probation officers, state parole officers, and gang detectives from Mountain View and Sunnyvale at the festival.
With a focus on Saturday's festivities, San Jose police officers from patrol and special operations units will join regularly assigned officers to increase the police presence in downtown and around Story and King roads, where most Cinco de Mayo celebrations have traditionally occurred, police said.
The foot and vehicle traffic diversion plans, which the department did not elaborate on, will only be implemented in cases of traffic gridlock or unsafe pedestrian behavior, police said.
San Jose police said that while they welcome people to partake in the weekend's celebrations, they ask that they do so lawfully.
-Bay City News
