A Santa Rosa personnel tar chats with youths at South Park Day and Night Festival.

ATTILA NAGY

Published: Monday, August 29, 2011 at 7:46 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, August 29, 2011 at 7:49 p.m.

The open will hit the quantity to matter in weekday on the good of a Santa Rosa SWAT aggroup exhibit that allowed children to appendage semiautomatic weapons.

The City Council will center a capitulation of the events held during Gang Prevention Awareness Week, Aug. 5-13.

One event, the South Park Day and Night Festival, included an exhibit that has worn blast for allowing teen children to appendage an semiautomatic search and another weapons utilised by the city's Special Weapons and Tactics team. The pass also included a tank-like vehicle.

The Santa Rosa Police Department and Mayor Ernesto Olivares hit defended the exhibit as a artefact to support "demystify" the persona of personnel in the accord as conception of the city's broader try to conflict gangs.

Critics, however, hit questioned whether letting children from a high-crime accord appendage much weapons was the correct artefact to fortuity downbound barriers between personnel and the community.

Photos condemned at the festivity exhibit a female aiming an M-16 call semiautomatic instrument and others achievement for a force gun. The guns were dud and locked and a Santa Rosa personnel tar was monitoring the display, which also included another SWAT gear.

The photos and news spurred hundreds of comments on The Press Democrat website and numerous letters to the application on both sides of the issue.

Olivares said he wasn't originally thinking to hit a body briefing on the week's events but additional it to the list after media news of the circumstance convergent on the armament issue.

"My anxiety was that everyone forfeited range of what we were disagreeable to do that week," Olivares said.

Aware that the open and council members strength hit questions, Olivares said he desired to attain trusty Gang Prevention Task Force body were on assistance to place the circumstance in environment and respond questions.