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Police Chief Sean Stevens reports overall crime declines but flags burglaries and Crestwood placement
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Summary
Police Chief Sean Stevens told the Kingsburg City Council that part 1 crimes were down about 13% for the first quarter but that two residential burglaries and related investigations remain active; Stevens said a person on the sex-offender registry placed at Crestwood was moved and the city will follow up with behavioral-health officials.
Police Chief Sean Stevens told the Kingsburg City Council that part 1 crimes were down about 13% in the first quarter compared with last year, and other offenses were down roughly 22.5%, though the department logged two residential burglaries that drove a local increase in burglary statistics.
Stevens, presenting the Jan.–Mar. 2026 crime-report packet prepared by records supervisor Corina Padilla, said the department recovered a stolen safe containing a firearm, passports and credit cards that Caltrans located on Avenue 384 and that detectives are continuing follow-up. "Part 1 crimes... are down 13%," Stevens said. "We had 2 residential burglaries." He added that traffic collisions remained about the same and citations were slightly lower overall.
The chief gave a breakdown of enforcement activity: the investigations unit had 19 cases assigned, produced 48 reports and made eight arrests; patrol officers handled 2,482 calls for service, issued 409 case numbers, made 65 arrests and issued 127 citations during the quarter. Stevens said the department is working to increase self-initiated officer activity, which was lower than desired.
Council members asked questions about recent training and an arrest tied to organized criminal activity. In response to a council question, Stevens said training on East Indian gang activity was recent and driven by information from federal partners; he described an incident in which officers detained two men in connection with a stolen Amazon trailer, saying the trailer contained "about I wanna say it was about $500,000 worth of inventory." Stevens said that prompted additional training and coordination with neighboring agencies.
A council member also asked about a recent situation at Crestwood, a local behavioral-health facility near a school. Stevens said the person in question appeared on the sex-offender registry and that placement at Crestwood conflicted with city contract terms prohibiting registered sex offenders at that facility. "Once we found that out, I met with the staff at Crestwood... As of Friday last week, I received a call from Crestwood that he has been moved. He is no longer here in Kingsburg," Stevens said. He added that the city manager and he planned a call with the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health to discuss placement protocols and that Crestwood agreed to avoid similar placements moving forward. Stevens said the department will also provide in-house staff training so officers will not register such residents at the site in the future.
The council did not take action on the report; Stevens said he could provide a future breakdown of arrests by proactive (self-initiated) versus citizen-initiated contacts if council wanted that data. The report was presented as informational.
