Also, SJPD is starting to add Community Service Officers (CSOs) to assist sworn police officers with lower priority calls for service (traffic collisions, vandalism, etc.). This makes perfect sense, why waste an officer's valuable time with incidents that can be handled without a badge or gun. The CSOs will also cost the city less money, which can free up more budget for additional officers and perhaps higher compensation to help retain/recruit officers.
Dear Neighbors,
Good news rarely makes headlines, which is why I'm writing to you today.
San Jose has experienced a significant decrease in serious crime since 2012.
The San Jose Police Department has just posted data for the first half of 2014, and the data shows:
- Total serious crimes dropped by 9.1% from January to June of 2014 (over the same period in 2013). That decline builds on a 10.3% decrease for calendar year 2013.
- Homicides dropped by 20.8% in the first six months of 2014. In 2013, homicides declined by 15.6% over 2012.
- Violent crimes in San Jose in 2013 were at the second-lowest level in a decade.
I want to thank the men and women of the San Jose Police Department for their continued efforts to reduce crime in San Jose. With the leadership of Chief Larry Esquivel, they have responded to problems creatively and redeployed resources effectively.
We are also adding new resources to the department. Last week, our first Community Service Officers graduated from the academy and are in field training. CSOs will assist sworn police officers in investigating and completing police reports on lower priority calls for service, such as property crimes, non-injury traffic collisions, vehicle theft, vandalism, and other non-emergency circumstances. This will allow sworn SJPD officers to focus on responding to high priority emergency calls for service and have more time for more proactive enforcement.
Community Service Officers will be stationed out of the South San Jose Substation. You can learn more in SJPD's press release.
Thank you also to you, your neighborhood associations, and community organizations, for your work with our police department to make our city safer. The positive relationship our police department has with our community is critical to preventing and solving crimes.
Thank you,
Mayor Chuck Reed
Wonder how well the CSOs will work. Sounds good in theory.
ReplyDeleteLast few days (starting on Thurs before the long weekend), there has been a few incidents of gun violence in downtown. Both armed robberies, as well as some shooting on 1st & St. John.
ReplyDeleteDowntown is finally on a up swing. There are quite a few new towers coming in. To me this is the number one concern...if you don't get on top of gun violence here, and negative publicity gets propagated, the momentum in downtown will die, people won't show up, developers lose money, the negative cycle starts again.
I don't have a good solution. I'm just hoping someone does. It has to be made clear down town is a priority for San Jose, and gang's/thugs with guns are simply not welcomed.
Couldn't agree more. I think a cost effective solution would be cameras on every block (London and NYC style). This would help police quickly identify and catch criminals and act as a big deterrent.
DeleteAgreed as this seems like a easy/cost effective first steep. Is this proposal on anyone's list yet (either of the mayoral candidates?) How do we go about getting this added so we can make some progress?
DeleteI think that a CCTV system should be the responsibility of the San Jose Downtown Association. I'm guessing a camera or two would cost the same as a Music in the Park concert, and would have a more significant impact on gun violence, general crime, and the perception of public safety issues that plagues the downtown area. Or, possibly this is a better use of the funds designated for the "Street Life" plan that is being rolled out. Who needs a nice place to hang out if you are afraid of getting shot in the crossfire of gang-activity.
ReplyDelete