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Police chief presents 2024 annual report; department highlights recruitment, community programs and crime trends
Summary
Chief Todd Smith presented the Fair Oaks Ranch Police Department’s 2024 annual report, reporting reduced vacancies, new community engagement tracking, declines in certain property crimes and plans for a RU OK program for older residents.
Police Chief Todd Smith on Feb. 20 presented the Fair Oaks Ranch Police Department’s 2024 annual report to the city council, highlighting staffing changes, crime and traffic statistics, new investigative capacity and planned community programs.
Chief Smith said the department operated most of the year with five vacancies but has recruited three new officers who will start next month, reducing vacancies to two. He said the department will hold promotional testing to fill a permanent lieutenant position plus two sergeants and two corporals.
Smith described a revised annual report format, new mission, a “1 by 1 policing” philosophy and a departmental values statement emphasizing integrity, courage, accountability and respect. He said traffic enforcement favored education: “73% of the stops resulted in a written warning, emphasizing education over enforcement,” and that 80% of stops were of nonresidents. Smith also noted a reduction in collisions and in several crime categories, and zero reported forced-entry residential burglaries in 2024 according to the report.
The department added a civilian investigator, a retired officer who Smith said helped clear hundreds of cases and improved reporting practices. Smith said the department has adopted a trauma-informed, victim-centered approach for investigations. He also described a new community engagement tracking field built into the in-car computer system by the Boerne dispatch center to quantify time officers spend on community-oriented activities.
Chief Smith outlined a planned RU OK program aimed at residents 60 and older: volunteers organized by the department will check in by phone on Saturdays to offer welfare checks and help coordinate services for people who need rides, errands or companionship.
Smith invited questions and asked residents to follow the department’s new Facebook feed for crime prevention tips and community information. Council members praised the report and thanked the department for its community focus.
Speakers quoted in this article are from the police presentation in the meeting record and are listed in the speakers section.
