Stockton’s Police Chief has announced a three-year strategic plan to combat crime, reduce blight, and increase trust within the community.
The plan will focus on reducing gun violence and homicides with the continued use of gang sweeps. It also calls for hiring a more diverse workforce and increased training for officers.
Chief Eric Jones says the number of police officers has increased from a low of 323 seven years ago, to over 470 today.
“Would I like more? Absolutely, we should probably have 600 officers for a city our size but it’s not necessarily how many police officers you have, it’s how are you using those police officers,” Jones said.
Stockton saw its highest number of homicides in 2012 with 71, but since then there has been a steady decline, with just over 30 in 2019.
“Many homicides are not necessarily predictable or preventable but we do know retaliatory group gun violence can be reduced and a lot of that is done through enforcement missions, so we will expect in this community to see those continue if not more,” Jones said.
The plan also calls for the department to be proactive in reducing blight with neighborhood clean sweeps, wiping out graffiti, and junk abatement.
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