Fresno Police taking an average of 100 guns off the streets each month

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Neighborhoods infamous for gang violence, filled with Fresno Police officers and gang units, spreading out in South Fresno.

It's a daily routine of looking for gang members, and guns, a big contributor to a drop in violent crimes.

Its all part of Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer's dedication to bringing the number of shootings down in Fresno, currently at a 30% decrease from last year.

Chief Dyer has assigned three special response teams to the south parts of Fresno since the first of the year

"It's amazing how many of those shootings are related to the same gun and ultimately the same suspect or that gun is being passed around from gang member to gang member. So when we can remove that one gun, we have the potential to prevent several shootings."

There's no shortage of these weapons that fill a portion of the Fresno Police Department's warehouse where they store evidence.

"Our handguns, the number of them coming in, the only way I can describe it is they've exploded," said Sgt. Kirk Pool. "The volume of them coming in much faster than we can get rid of them."

Inside the warehouse are 6,000 seized guns, categorized by case numbers.

"This is a drug case, and domestic violence, so this would be one of the domestic violence safe keeping firearms, from 2015 we still have it," said Sgt. Pool.

It's here where those guns are safely stored, until they're returned to their owners, or destroyed, rather than taking lives.

"When you look at what we've been able to do this year, reducing homicides from 17 to 9, that's 8 fewer families that had to bury a loved one this year," said Chief Dyer.