Selma Police making extra effort to decrease crime in area

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Selma Police say their strategy is working, and more patrols have helped decrease crime.

"We've stepped up, challenging them," says Myron Dyck, the Acting Chief of Selma Police.

Officers are seeing an overall decrease in violent crime, such as rape and aggravated assaults.

In total, investigators saw a total of 148 violent crime cases in 2018, whereas they saw 112 last year.

The acting chief of police attributes a lot of that to their recent approach to combating crime and targeting known criminals.

"More patrolling, more designated contact with them, searching them out," Dyck said.

The number of homicides, however, are steady, staying at two a year since 2017.

One of those was a father who was shot and killed in front of his own home late last year.

More recently, officers were finally able to charge three people in connected with an October shooting that injured two young kids.

Mark Armenta, the director of the Selma Boys and Girl's club, says while that shooting happened not too far from the facility, the neighborhood has been fairly quiet.

He's also noticed the increase in patrol helps curve crime.

"We have a lot of the officers come by and spend time with the children," Armenta said. "They come by when they're not on a call. Just by the patrol car being here deters crime."