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Councilman Greg Stanton
The Ahwatukee Republic
February 2005
Crime Stats Encouraging in North Central and Citywide
Strong police work, community involvement from you and your neighbors and support from city leaders have combined to push down crime throughout Phoenix, including Ahwatukee Foothills.
As a member of the Phoenix City Council Public Safety Subcommittee, I'm proud of our results.
Here are a few highlights from our latest citywide statistics.
Homicides fell by nearly 16 percent in 2004 compared to 2003. Violent crime overall dropped by nearly 5 percent on a per capita basis. Property crimes like burglary, theft and arson fell by about 6 percent on a per capita basis, with nearly 3,500 fewer reported last year. Even motor vehicle theft, a big local problem, was down.
The latest federal statistics show our city has one of the lowest violent crime rates of all major cities in the country.
Crime numbers for Ahwatukee Foothills show the total number of violent crimes of aggravated assault, robbery, rape and homicide dropping by more than 10 percent.
These positive developments are making our neighborhoods safer and more secure and the Public Safety Subcommittee will continue to support programs that target criminals and promote crime prevention. An example of a successful effort is community action policing, which teams individual police officers with neighborhood associations and residents.
"The community action police program has become very important in our community because we've found that when neighbors are involved in Block Watch, we tend to see less crime," said Officer Robert Barnhart, Ahwatukee Foothills' community action officer. "People get to know each other and they watch out for each other."
That community outreach concept is also part of other important police programs, like the Violence Impact Project (V.I.P.) and efforts targeting repeat offenders.
V.I.P. focuses more police attention and resources on neighborhoods experiencing a lot of violent crimes. The intense scrutiny lets police arrest criminals and that improves neighborhoods. It's working now in parts of the city targeted in our first VIP programs.
The repeat offenders program recognizes that most criminals don't retire after their first crime. Police target those known to do crime over and over again. Like VIP, the aggressive action leads to getting some of the most problematic offenders off the streets. Police tell us that a relatively small number of criminals commit a big percentage of our crimes. Hitting those criminals hard makes a real difference.
Much of the success we've seen in Ahwatukee Foothills is due to the outstanding work of South Mountain Precinct Commander William Campbell and Lt. Michael Cecchini, who heads the Ahwatukee Foothills police satellite station. We also want to thank all of the officers assigned to the area and neighborhood leaders like Mary Conant and Peggy Schaeffer of the Ahwatukee Foothills Crime Prevention Task Force.
We are making good progress on crime in Ahwatukee Foothills and the entire city. But we can do more to continue pursuing measures that target crime. You can help by becoming active in your Block Watch organization or by starting one in your neighborhood.
Together, we can help keep our neighborhoods safe and secure.
For general, non-emergency police information concerning your neighborhood, call the precinct at 602-495-5004.
Phoenix City Councilman Greg Stanton represents Ahwatukee Foothills. If you have any questions about any issues, please feel free to call Councilman Stanton's office at 602-262-7491, e-mail greg.stanton@phoenix.gov or visit phoenix.gov/DISTRICT 6.
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