One by one, the top brass of Fresno Police read off their stats during its monthly crime meeting. Various District Commanders and Captains said, things like, "It's all good news", and "there's more minuses then pluses, all of our numbers look good."
They say crime is down, in most categories, across the city. They're reporting an overall 11.5 percent reduction in property crimes and a 9 percent reduction in violent crimes as compared to this time last year.
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says it's no random downward spike. He's crediting a structural change in the department. "We put lieutenants as the district commanders and we have captains as bureau commanders over them and they are very focused on crime, and we created bureau impact at that time and I believe, all of those things working together is why we're seeing the reductions."
He also says they've been pouring over crime data -- studying the statistics and trends in every district. "When you put that information into the hands of our commanders and filters down to our officers, we're making sure we're arresting the right people, that we're putting our officers in the rights spots, what we call hot spots."
As a result every district has seen a decrease in crime, and to date detectives are reporting a 94% clearance rate on homicide, something that Chief Dyer says is unheard of. "It's a credit to the individuals that are focusing on crime, reducing crime."
