The Kern County Sheriff's Office is eliminating its gang unit, due to the inability to recruit new members and lack of budget, according to Sheriff Donny Youngblood.
The Sheriff made the announcement to 23ABC news Tuesday morning. He said currently the department only has three people in the unit, and those three will be reassigned to other units.
Youngblood said a fully staffed gang unit department would consist of 13 people, but to stay under budget, he has to keep half of the gang unit positions vacant.
KCSO is losing a lot of new recruits or those already in the department, he said.
However, Youngblood said KCSO will continue to focus on gangs, and assign a deputy when an issue presents itself.
Sheriff Youngblood also said other special units may be eliminated in the future.
