New Annual Report Highlights a 10% Decrease in Crime
As many of you are aware, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department – Perris Station serves a population of nearly 190,000 people, and its boundaries cover close to 190 square miles. We are proud to serve the cities of Perris, Menifee, and Canyon Lake, as well as the unincorporated communities surrounding our station, which include Woodcrest, Lake Mathews, Gavalan Hills, Mead Valley, Nuevo, Romoland, and Homeland. Around this time of year, it has been our practice to report out, in the form of an annual report, to our contract cities what occurred in the prior year. Typically, the annual report has been tailored specifically for the individual contract city, and unfortunately deplete of information that may be of interest to the other communities we serve. This year we have attempted to remedy this by drafting one, all-inclusive, annual report to address all of the cities and communities we serve. In our report, which will be presented this month, we highlight each function of service that occurs within the Perris Station. Furthermore, we understand that some people may be more interested in their particular city or community, so we appropriately breakout crime statistics and other information in an attempt to accommodate their individual interest.
During the past year, staff at the Perris Station has made great strides in the development of our crime control model. The foundation of the model is centered on the concept of Zone policing, which is comprised of two main layers; one, assigning patrol deputies to the same area every day for an extended period of time; second, assigning one deputy to serve as a “Zone Coordinator” (i.e., a person who is centrally responsible for a particular zone). The “Zone Coordinator” has the flexibility to work any day of the week, and at any time of the day depending on when and where the current crime trends need his/her attention most. Furthermore, the “Zone Coordinator” regularly communicates closely with the patrol deputies, investigators, members of the Gang Task Force and Narcotics Task Force, city and county code enforcement, as well as many business and neighborhood groups to ensure all are cooperating in an effective manner to reduce, prevent, and disrupt any emerging crime trends.
Keeping in mind that during this past year, the Perris Station assumed additional patrol jurisdiction from the Hemet, Lake Elsinore, and Southwest Stations, as well as the newly incorporated City of Menifee, we still managed to collectively reduce Part 1 crimes (e.g., homicide, rape, robbery, assault, vehicle theft, burglary, larceny and arson) by nearly 10 percent. The contract cities realized the greater declines in crime, whereas the unincorporated areas saw a slight increase. All things considered, we are pleased with our overall performance.
Recognizing that we will be facing some rather daunting challenges through this year and into the near future, the Perris Station began to work with a technology company called GeoSpatial Technologies to develop software that will assist in our deployment strategies. In short, the program is based on the premise of “supply and demand.” With supply being the number of deputy work hours in a week, and demand being the number of calls for service in a week, the program is setup to recommend the best fit of resources in relationship to the volume of calls. We are in the process of testing this program, which should be fully operational by the end of summer.
In closing, for those who are interested in reviewing our annual report, it will be made available through each of our contract cities’ website this month. Also, we plan to present our annual report to the each of the city councils (tentatively scheduled for the first meeting of the month).
James P. McElvain
Chief of Police