RODEO (BCN) — The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office will open a new substation in the unincorporated community of Rodeo Wednesday evening, sheriff’s officials said.

The new substation at 1126 Mariposa Ave. is part of an effort to enhance safety, well-being, health, education and public trust among residents of the Bayo Vista housing development, according to the sheriff’s office.

“It’s an area that’s seen its share of crime,” sheriff’s Capt. Dan Hoffman said. “If we can develop relationships with these citizens so that as these youth grow older, they have that connection with us, they have that

trust with us, they are more likely to head down the right path.”

In 2015, the 248-unit Bayo Vista complex, which is managed by the county housing authority, experienced 57 residential burglaries, 11 robberies and 10 assaults with a deadly weapon, Hoffman said.

He said the substation and its new deputy, Sam Noble, will focus on developing positive relationships with the community and local youth.

In addition to his law enforcement duties, which he will share with the neighborhood’s existing patrol deputy, Noble is expected to help start sports camps, afterschool and tutoring programs and help reduce truancy

rates in the community, Hoffman said.

He will work closely with the local YMCA, which the sheriff’s office selected as a partner in its community outreach efforts.

“We’re trying to get (neighborhood kids) off the street,” Rodeo YMCA site director Reese Range said. “When they’re not doing nothin’, they’re doing somethin’.”

Reese says the new emphasis on youth outreach will show kids a different side of law enforcement.

“I think showing them that different side, out shaking hands, will show that (the deputies) are here to be part of the community,” Reese said.

One of Noble’s previous postings was as a school resource officer at the West Contra Costa Unified School District, so “he’s a perfect fit” for this new job, Hoffman said.

“This is somebody who can take input from our community partners and really make the difference because he has the time to do so,” Hoffman said.

The revamped substation and Noble’s salary though June 2018 is covered by a roughly $453,000 grant from California’s Board of State and Community Corrections.

The Bayo Vista Community Policing Substation’s grand opening party is open to the public and starts at 4 p.m. Wednesday.