2019 crime report shows fewer calls for service

CLOVIS — The Clovis Police Department’s 2019 crime report included fewer calls for service, incident reports, citations and arrests from 2018.

However, it did report more incidents of motor vehicle theft, larceny/shoplifting/auto burglary and felony arrests.

The department reported the following crime numbers for 2019, with comparisons to 2018.

• Murder: 2 (up from 1 in 2018)

• CSP (Rape)/CSP of a Minor: 45 (33 in 2018)

• Robbery: 29 (23 in 2018)

• Aggravated Assault: 82 (67 in 2018)

• Burglary: 342 (331 in 2018)

• Larceny/ Shoplifting/ Auto Burglary: 961 (1,170 in 2018)

• Motor Vehicle Theft: 184 (145 in 2018)

• Felony Arrests: 725 (520 in 2018)

Chief Doug Ford said what stood out to him were the rise in motor vehicle thefts, 23.4% from 2018, and he was glad to see a 9.2% drop in vehicle crashes and 17.8% drop in theft and larceny.

“We really need our citizens to be more cautious and make sure they are locking up their vehicles,” said Ford, noting vehicle thefts were the highest they’ve been in five years. “The majority of our auto thefts are due to people leaving keys in the vehicles or running while they run into stores or when they are parked.”

Ford credited watchful citizens for helping keep theft/larceny cases down, and advised motorists to avoid using their phones while driving.

For the most part, Ford said, crimes saw fluctuations not outside of the norms, and there’s never much indication which crimes will rise or fall between years.

Ford said the year was challenging for various reasons, but included a personal note on the difficulty of losing Capt. Roger Dial to cancer in December. The report included two lengthy mentions of Dial, one from Ford and one from Capt. Roman Romero noting Dial was “the child of our town, the child of a teacher, the husband of a teacher, and a father of three girls” and never paused in life-or-death moments on the SWAT team.

“The toughest situation as a chief of police you will ever deal with, is the funeral of an officer,” Ford wrote. “I miss Capt. Dial tremendously; he was an extremely dedicated police officer, father, husband and citizen. I miss you daily Roger; your smile, desire to come in and serve and of course my hand going numb when you would shake it with that grizzly grip. We faced many life and death situations together; but you faced the biggest one with the confidence, dignity and faith like no other person I know.”

Among the highlights from the 58-page report:

• The department’s dispatch center handled 50,450 calls in service to the CPD, seven fire departments and three other law enforcement agencies. The average response time for all dispatched police and fire calls was 4:26. When the 33,343 CPD-only calls were measured, the average response time was 4:43. Total calls to the department for 2019 were 109,985, a 28% drop from 2018.

• Animal control took 4,683 calls for service, a 14% increase from 2018. A total of 290 animals were adopted, up from 205 in 2018. There were 278 reclaims (336 in 2018), 1,029 animal euthanizations (808 in 2018) and 798 animal rescues.

• Four quarterly random inspections of the property/evidence room were conducted, along with a complete audit of firearms, narcotics, money and jewelry secured in the room. No discrepancies were noted.