City reports continued decline in violent crime; homicide and aggravated assault down year-to-date
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Summary
Police Major Andre Taylor reported to the committee that violent crime was down about 12.9% year-to-date with homicides down roughly 25.16% and aggravated assaults down about 13.63%; the department attributed improvements to focused deterrence operations and community policing.
Major Andre Taylor briefed the Public Safety Committee on Nov. 10 with an October snapshot of the city's violent crime reduction plan. He said overall violent crime is down 12.9% year-to-date.
Taylor reported that aggravated assaults fell by about 13.63% and homicides decreased by roughly 25.16% compared with the prior year. He highlighted a recent domestic-violence operation that produced multiple arrests and said the Focused Deterrence program lists 77 clients currently under monitoring, with neighborhood outreach and partner stakeholder meetings planned.
Council members asked about the accuracy of the data and whether underreporting could make the trends appear stronger than residents' lived experience. Executive Assistant Chief Jesse Reyes and Major Taylor said the statistics are drawn from reported violent offenses and that the model used for the plan and the dashboards has been in use since 2021; they emphasized community reporting and neighborhood policing to ensure data accuracy and public perception tracking.
Why it matters: Declining violent crime statistics are central to city-level public-safety strategy and resource allocation. Officials said they are continuing focused deterrence and neighborhood patrol work while coordinating with community partners.
The committee did not take formal action on the update; members recommended continued outreach and asked staff to look into independent auditing or validation of data if feasible.