Our Public Safety at Risk

The annual high school student-led ‘La Migra’ Game is designed to be a rite of passage for underclassmen. The juniors and seniors give the younger students who are participating a head start and then try to catch them before they reach the “safety zone,” which is in another part of town. The specific date, starting, and end points of the game are kept a secret by the upperclassmen until the final moment. It’s a game of chase that is played outside of school jurisdiction. The game is scheduled on a weekend evening in the spring, so the light is varying and lots of people are out enjoying the improving weather and charm of our community. It typically carries over into public areas, including First Street.

‘It’s not a game to everyone’

Many say that the Game is a community tradition. But it’s not a game to everyone. The Benicia Police Department, headed by long-time Benicia resident, Benicia High School alumni, and 30-year law enforcement veteran Police Chief Mike Greene, finds this game to be a serious threat to public safety and a drain on public resources.

Each year the ‘Game’ is played, the department receives a huge increase in calls that evening, requesting police help on everything from noise disturbances to traffic safety issues, trespassing and assault. The captors are generally in a vehicle, while the targets are on foot. When captors spot one of their targets, a chase ensues. This leads to unsafe and even reckless driving by young and inexperienced drivers, and young people on foot jumping fences, going on to private property, and/or running in and out of traffic to avoid “capture.”

In the more recent years, it appears there has been an increase in the vehemence of the chase. Some of the participants are publicly yelling profanities and racially or sexually charged names at their targets as they pursue. This year and last, a few of the pursuers used a gel-pellet gun (Orbeez brand) to brandish and fire at their targets.

Worse yet, there are young people who did not intend to participate, many of whom did not even know the game was in play, who have been targeted. This creates fear and trauma among the unwitting visitors and members of our community, and takes away from providing a safe environment for everyone that the police department and community leaders work so hard to sustain.

20 Benicia youth ‘apprehended’ in 2023; one student referred to Solano DA

When looked at from a broad perspective, there is a tremendous amount of potential for community disaster. The likelihood of someone getting seriously injured or killed, whether or not they are actually “playing,” is high. It’s easy to imagine a scenario where a student being chased runs into the street to avoid capture and is hit by a car. Or a small child inadvertently wanders between a pursuer who is firing a gel-pellet gun and a target and is hit in a vulnerable part of their body. It is only a matter of time before something disastrous occurs. In addition, the ‘Game’ creates trauma for those who are not voluntarily involved and yet are affected – who are, in effect, collateral damage.  [Note from BenIndy Contributor Nathalie Christian: Toy guns can kill. Sometimes they kill directly, like when a 13-year-old girl was shot in the eye with a BB pellet on Independence Day, 2022. Sometime they kill indirectly — police have killed at least 245 people carrying toy guns after mistaking them for real firearms, according to the Washington Post.]

Police Chief Mike Greene is very much in favor of disbanding the ‘La Migra’ Game. The police department maintains a proactive enforcement approach by working in conjunction with the Benicia Unified School District and other community agents.

This year, they were able to learn the time and date the ‘Game’ was to be held, about a week ahead of time. The chief put five additional officers on active duty that evening, most of them on overtime. Officers were on hand to follow through when calls came in, and approximately 20 teens who were involved with the ‘Game’ were apprehended.

After the young people received a lecture on public safety, their guardians were called, and the circumstances and safety concerns regarding the Game’s danger’s were explained before remanding the youths to parental custody. One youth was referred to the District Attorney’s office on charges of battery for use of a gel-pellet gun. Although these efforts tapped police and community resources on an already tight budget, it was the most success the police force has had at intervening in the ‘Game’ and curtailing some of the dangers. They will continue their advanced efforts into the future until the ‘Game’ is no longer a threat to our community.

From a purely objective standpoint, Benicia is a safe community. According to the statistics put out by the United States Department of Justice, the crime rate in the City of Benicia is relatively low. For example, in 2019, we had 16 reports of violent crime, which is much lower than nearly all other Bay Area cities of a similar size, such as El Cerrito (152) and East Palo Alto (144) and Pleasant Hill (88). ‘La Migra’ threatens the status Benicia has earned by creating an unsafe environment for participants and non-participants alike.

It needs to stop.

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If you would like Sheri to hear and share your perspective on the ‘La Migra’ Game, please contact her through the Benicia Independent. Remember that it is your story that is critical for others to hear, not your name, unless you would like to be identified.