SANTA CRUZ, Calif.- These two men are in jail after police said they were dealing meth out of their home.
It's not the first time Santa Cruz police had their eye on this drug house. The home was on Jessie Street, near the boardwalk, in the beach flats community.
Anyone that's lived in Santa Cruz for the past few decades and hears the term Beach Flats, knows the perception isn't a good one.
"In large part because of the activity that's gone on here, more specifically the gang activity and with the gang activity comes the violence and narcotics sales," said Santa Cruz detective Joe Hernandez who started working the beach flats area nine years ago.
"When I was working down here several years ago you'd have a group of gang members hanging out on this corner and in this park ...You wouldn't have seen that before? No because it was taken over."
Beach Flats community program director Reyna ruiz keeps this article from the 90's in her office as a reminder of how far they have come saying people in the community finally decided to walk the talk.
"That includes funds and staff time and just collaboration that it takes to make that happen," said Ruiz.
Last year the community center said 170 people logged 2,600 hours of volunteer time.
Santa Cruz police beefed up their citizen police academy, utilizing the community center to get people interested and kept an officer presence.
"To make sure that the residents that live here that are hard working people that are trying to do good for themselves are safe...We can't post officers here 24/7," said Hernandez.
And the community knows it takes as much time to change a perception as it did to create it.
"There's still that perception that it is what it was...That we're moving in the direction of being a thriving community, and that it takes work to do that," said Ruiz.
Police said crime in the beach flats has gone down in the last ten years, and has stayed the same for last three years.
It's focus for the future is more youth intervention and prevention.
