FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – Fresno sees a small spike in violent crimes.
Even though violent crime is a slightly up by one percent over last year at the same time, overall, crime is down in Fresno, 13% compared to last year.
One homicide took place in the last 28 days.
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said there were “14 fewer homicides this year in our city than we had last year at this time. That’s just under a 32 percent reduction. Last year, we had 44 murders in the city of Fresno, this year we have 30 murders.”
Despite four shooting in the last 28 days, shootings are down nearly 30 percent.
There were 196 shootings last year, and only 111 so far this year, Chief Dyer says that’s 85 fewer victims who have been shot by guns than the same time, last year.
“The one area that we really, really focus on is gang shootings in our city. This year we’ve had 64 fewer gang shooting than we did last year at this time, and that’s as a result of the proactive efforts of our officers that are out there making traffic stops, detaining individuals, removing guns out of the hands of criminals, said Police Chief Dyer.
Property crimes are dropping this year, burglaries of homes or businesses are down 27 percent.
Vehicle burglaries are down 23 percent.
Auto theft has dropped 18 percent except for a spike over the previous weekend when 12 cars were stolen, six per day.
Chief Dyer says there are two reasons Fresno PD has a lower auto theft rate than other cities, the first is the Fresno Police Career Criminal Auto Theft Team and the second is the department has an arrangement with the County of Fresno to keep five jail beds open for prolific auto thieves.
Over a seven day period, four cars were stolen in a half mile radius of the Fresno Fair, one car was stolen at the Fair, but police are keeping watch for thieves.
Older Hondas are the most targeted vehicles.
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern.
