Crime down, safety up at Big Fresno Fair

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno police say property crime around this year's Big Fresno Fair is at an all time low. Despite the good news officers are concerned about violence.

Fresno police say only one fair employee and one fair visitor have been victims of property crimes during the past week.

"In fact, on the outside of the fair, we've had one car stolen and one vehicle broken into during the entire run of the fair with tens of thousands of people that are coming there on a daily basis," said Jerry Dyer, Fresno Police Department.

Officers say the vehicle burglary happened at Kings Canyon and Jackson and the vehicle theft happened at Kings Canyon near Cedar.

To ensure the fair is as safe as possible, Fresno police say they met with fair officials and decided to cancel a concert for this Saturday night that was sponsored by a hip hop radio station. "We had a radio station there that was attracting certain individuals and we would end up with some disturbances," said Dyer.

Just last weekend one fight at the fair was recorded, then posted on YouTube and went viral. Fair officials say this weekend's event was rescheduled and it was not related to any prior problems, or safety concerns.

Lauri King, Big Fresno Fair Deputy Manager, explained, "We really decided that it was a capacity issue and we can't adequately put children that were interested in going to that venue in the area, so we are going to have it on Friday night and we are expecting to have a great Friday night for them."

In anticipation of larger crowds, officers will be added to the fair on Friday and Saturday night. They will also be patrolling the area around the Paul Paul Theater for the performance of rapper, 2 Chainz.

"This Saturday we will make sure that we have an even added presence on top of that just because of the performers and some of the incidents that we want to make sure don't occur," said Dyer.

Fair officials say the event that was cancelled, known as 'High School Holla', was not because of concerns that two hip hop events in one night was too much. "No, not at all. 2 Chainz is very excited to come to the fair, we are excited to have him. It's going to be a great concert he'll put on a set and take it out of town," said King.

Officers say they have only had one report of a theft inside the fair involving a fair employee and a vendor.