Modesto police detail youth and community outreach as crime‑prevention unit grows

Lieutenant Brian Kleiber, Modesto Police Department, told the Community Police Review Board on May 21 that the department has expanded its community engagement activities and is rebuilding its crime prevention staffing after recent shortages.

"If there's anything that you see that we're falling short on, that's what we're here for — let us know any other ideas you have that we could reach out to folks within our community," Kleiber said as he summarized programs the department runs or supports.

Kleiber told the board the department’s crime prevention unit had just one staffer through mid‑2024. In July 2024 a second full‑time employee was added and a third was hired in March 2025, Kleiber said, enabling the unit to resume a larger slate of community activities.

He reviewed roughly 14 months of events and programs. Highlights included National Night Out (this year on Aug. 5), which Kleiber said drew 92 registered neighborhood parties last year and placed Modesto first in California and sixth nationally by that registration measure. He described recurring efforts aimed at youth, including the Wake Up program for 12‑ to 17‑year‑olds (an eight‑week class that requires a parent or guardian to attend), a two‑day MPD Youth Academy for ages 13–17, a CSI camp for ages 8–13 (currently on a waiting list), monthly “Coffee with a Cop” events and regular school career‑day visits.

Kleiber also listed neighborhood watch meetings (15 since March 2024), four community town halls (Woodland, Oakdale Road, Carver Road and Martin Luther King), open houses for potential applicants, K‑9 demonstrations and seasonal fundraising and outreach such as a Santa Paws event and toy drives delivered to local families.

Board members pressed Kleiber on how the programs are targeted and whether they are benefiting specific student populations. One board member asked whether many of the school programs focus on Mark Twain, Robertson Road and Hanshaw — neighborhoods that the board described as higher‑need — and Kleiber said the department receives many requests from those schools and that one grant the department received (a CalVIP grant) required identifying a target area by data points.

Kleiber and others acknowledged the difficulty of proving a direct causal link between programs and arrest or discipline statistics. He said Modesto City Schools data showed disciplinary rates had fallen for some schools, but Kleiber cautioned that the programs have different start dates and that it is difficult to separate police efforts from other community interventions. "Getting exact metrics is difficult when we're not the lead agency on that," Kleiber said.

A public commenter identified as Karim suggested tracking progress reports and school grades for students who enter programs as a possible performance measure. "Maybe you guys can get the data from progress reports, grades," Karim said, urging the department to compare behavioral and academic data before and after program participation.

Board members and commenters also discussed using video and anecdotal stories to document program impact and suggested expanding how the city and partners publicize successes. Kleiber said some programs rely on in‑kind officer time rather than direct budget allocations and that some positions and activities are paid for by grants or partner organizations.

The presentation closed with board members and staff discussing follow‑up requests for program cost details and data collection. Kleiber said staff would try to return hard cost estimates for some programs and that the department is open to suggestions about improving measurement and outreach.

Ending

Board members took no formal action on the presentation. The department was asked to follow up with cost estimates and to explore whether partner agencies can share program‑level outcome data.