Crime drops in Fairbanks for second year in a row
Published Thursday, May 29, 2008
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Stumble It!Reports of serious crimes in Fairbanks are down significantly for the second consecutive year.
In 2007, Fairbanks police received 2,411 reports of assaults, robberies, burglaries, thefts and homicides, a 14 percent decrease from the previous year, and 28 percent decrease from 2005.
Last year also marked the lowest number of serious crime reports this decade. Reports peaked at just more than 3,500 in 2003.
Thefts saw the most dramatic decrease in reports, down 33 percent from the previous year. Burglary reports were also down 19 percent from 2006 to 2007.
Police Chief Dan Hoffman was cautiously optimistic about the numbers, noting that some people might notice small objects stolen from their house or car and not report the theft to police.
“It’s important to keep in mind that what we see in the reporting is an imperfect tool,” he said.
The number of reported robberies, sexual assaults, less serious assaults and vehicle thefts all slightly decreased in 2007 as well. DUI arrests, which were not included in the serious crime statistics provided by the police department, also fell slightly.
Only two categories saw an increase in the number of reports last year. Homicides rose from one case in 2006, to five cases in 2007, the highest number this decade. Aggravated assault reports also jumped from 154 to 179, but were still down significantly from their peak of nearly 250 in 2003.
Virtually every category of serious crime reports also is on pace to decrease in 2008 based on numbers available through the end of April, though thefts and burglaries tend to increase in winter because of the lack of daylight.
Fairbanks city Mayor Terry Strle said she was pleased with the numbers presented at the last city council meeting.
“I certainly hope we will continue to see those decreases thanks to the great work the police department does,” she said.
Still, Hoffman cautioned against reading too much into the statistics since with many categories, such as homicides, the overall numbers are still very small.
But if anything is to be credited for the decrease in reports, he said it could be the dedicated traffic enforcement unit which doubled in size to four officers last year.
“Studies have shown that putting more resources into active traffic enforcement has an effect on other crimes,” Hoffman said.
The police chief admitted that it’s highly unlikely an officer on patrol will spot a burglar leaving a home.
However, cops on traffic enforcement have a better chance of getting a burglar on his way to a home if they pull him over for a traffic violation and there’s a warrant out for his arrest, for example.
“One of the most frustrating things about police work is that through our proactive efforts, we prevent lots of things from happening, but there’s no way of knowing how much crime is prevented through those efforts,” he said.
Community Discussion
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Good Job Fairbanks!
Decreasing crime...Another thing to love about this place!
YMBC---
I'm stunned. You feeling good about a government crackdown on crime, with the police admittedly pulling over drivers for driving violations so that they can then look for unrelated warrants? I can hardly believe my eyes. Are you feeling OK?
"Police Chief Dan Hoffman was cautiously optimistic about the numbers, noting that some people might notice small objects stolen from their house or car and not report the theft to police."
People have stopped reporting thefts because of the apathy of the police department to investigate. I've know of multiple incidents where items were stolen and the victims had a very good idea of who stole them and the police were too busy to follow up on it. When you call the police they tell you to come down and fill out a form if you want to, but there is little chance to get your stuff back.
Just because reporting is down doesn't mean crime is down.
I agree with Common sense. The people have stopped reporting because the cops don't respond, they are to busy pulling people over for license plate lights being out "just in case there is a warrant on them" Give me a break.
A lot of you that post here can't seem to find anything at all positive about living in Fairbanks and have a generally jaundiced attitude about life in general. This then begs the question: What are you doing here? Since it is obvious that you have much better pastures in mind I suggest that you take your negative thinking and go where you can be happy, if it is possible for you, and leave our town to those of us who are willing to work a little at being happy to be here. Best of luck.
LOL! Darth my friend, seeing a situation that persists has nothing to do with loving where you live.. You can't take negative comments on a specific situation as an over all attitude.. silly boy.
OK...Serious crime down. That's a good thing. However, crime of theft has not. It's not a revenue generating thing. GOT OIL...get a gun. Your going to need to protect your heating oil, your wood and the gas in your tank.
Where do YOU live Darth? This isn't the 50's buddy, you need a reality check. I actually like Fairbanks, and unless you're going to pay for my family to move to where you are, I'm stuck here. I FULLY agree with CommonSense, there is a LOT of apathy from FPD about crime.
I had some strung out crack person from the drug house next door (yeah, called FPD on that too, a lot of good THAT did) come over and try to get into MY home to use my bathroom. I told her to get off my property, she threatened to have ME shot by these people. I called the cops and they spent 2 minutes with me and I haven't heard anything since.
Yeah, way to go FPD...woo hoo...ya'll are doing a bang up job.
And as far as the traffic cops go, I watch people just blow through the stop sign at the intersection 2 houses down from me or drivers passing me doing well above the posted limit through the school zones (when school was in session). Where are they then?
I'd feel safer with Barney Fife on the force.
You may think the police are stopping people for minor infraction unnecessarily, but how many times is that person drunk? That's why they do it, to protect you from being killed by that drunk driver. OR to get a criminal off the streets who has outstanding warrants. If you don't care enough to go downtown to report some trinket that was stolen, then I guess it isn't that important to you. You are ONE person with ONE minor problem...I supposed you think you are more important than the big picture.
Why is it that you can drive from the Alaskan border to Eilson on a two lane road, with curves and hills, at 65 miles per hour, but when you get to the 4 lane divided highway the speed limit drops to 55? The only reason I can think of, is more tickets
My point was only that a lot of people post a lot of negative comments railing against life in Fairbanks. Crime being down is good news no matter how you choose to spin it. Sure, everybody wants more police presence, but it has to be paid for somehow. There have been a number of ideas put forth before the public to pay for more law enforcement but for one reason or another we never see fit to authorize it with our votes. Police can't be everywhere at once and they are forced to prioritize. If you've got a better idea, throw it out there. Maybe someone will come up with one that everybody can agree on. Oh, and KristenR18, I do live in Fairbanks and think it is as close to "50's" lifestyle we are going to see already. Just got back from Chicago where the leading news stories aren't how many homocides there were yesterday, but how many. I'll stick with what I"ve got...
thank you agnes
Thanks for that post Darth, you hit the nail right on the head.
Every department in the City is understaffed, most of them significantly so. The only way to hire more staff is to be willing to pay for them, something this community balks at regularly.
It's almost laughable to me that the people on here that complain about the lack of response or investigation from FPD are almost always the same people that want instant service but aren't willing to pay the costs associated with receiving that level of service.
I have zero doubt that small theft crimes are VERY low on FPD's list of priorties. Do you want it to be higher on their list? Then help them help you by allowing them to hire more police officers. If you're unwilling to do that, then be happy with the cash in your pocket and the service you receive for the money you're willing to pay.
Fairbanks needs to get over this spoiled attitude that all of the services they receive are or should be free of cost to the property owners.
ADF-"It's almost laughable to me that the people on here that complain about the lack of response or investigation from FPD are almost always the same people that want instant service but aren't willing to pay the costs associated with receiving that level of service."
Just curious... What do you have to back that statement up?
Hard figures? None.
I read different posts on here for different stories and note who says what regarding taxes, services, etc. But that would be why I said "are almost always the same", because there are exceptions to every generalization.
Now let me ask you a few questions. Do you live in the City? If so, did you vote to decrease the City property mill rate last fall? Did you vote to support the tax cap? Have you voted "no" when the City has attempted to raise or abolish the tax cap? Are you opposed to a sales tax, even if part of the sales tax proposal is to lower property taxes?
If you answer "yes" to any of those questions after the first one, then you are one of those people I am speaking of.
Almost no one "likes" taxes, including me, especially if we think our tax dollars are being wasted. Demanding gov't fiscal accountability is a GREAT thing in my book. I am not a tax and spend liberal/conservative, but I am willing to pay taxes for the services I receive, and I'm willing to pay the tax costs associated with responsive, professional level services.
ADF and Darth...Exactly! Thanks for those posts.
last march i delivered a pizza to the apartments at 126 2nd st and while on the second floor balconey watched 3 teen boys scope out my car and then open the backdoor and proceed to steal an order in the bag in the backseat i yelled at them to stop and they looked at me and demanded all my money.i got mad ran down to confront them as the customer was supposed to call the police.they ran away and the customer did not call the police.i then went to the police building on 10th ave and picked up the phone to report this it was about midnight.the person who answered the phone would only laugh about it. unbelievable
I assume you are asking me- I do not live in the city. I shop in North Pole and pay a sales tax. I vote at every election and I have absolutely no problem paying a tax (especially one I deem as fair as a sales tax) I am a property owner and I pay my fair share.
So as to how you can back up that statement, well you can see why I asked that. It is not a bad thing to recognize a situation and state that you do not like the way it is handled. It would certainly be more productive if you had a way in mind to handle it better, but you don't always have that.
Just because a person has a problem with the response time and priority of the FPD does not make them a hater nor does that make them an unhappy person.
I would suggest that there are many topics that you would not post favorably on and although this is not one of them you must remember you are looking at a 10 second snap shot of how people think. You do not have to agree you simply should give it the consideration of reading or not if you choose.
I would love to say it is only these few people on here who feel that we have a problem with our policing (not just FPD) but our law enforcement in general.. is the solution more police? I don't think so, is the solution better management of the one's we have? Maybe. Is the answer ...we haven't heard it yet? Apparently.
It shouldn't be a personal thing against the people who are trying to work within the confines of the current system (officers) but it does have to be acknowledged that there is a problem before anyone is ever going to look at what needs to happen to fix it.
My guess would be if you asked an officer they would probably say they are as frustrated as the people.
Who wants to do a thankless job?
The reason that police seem indifferent to reported robberies in Fairbanks is not that they work here, but the difficulty and cost in investigating such crimes. Police everywhere are like this. They are being economical in their law enforcement.
You are the cop who gets the report of two losers stealing $40 worth of pizza. What do you do? Scope for them for hours using the driver’s poor description? What if you actually see someone matching that description (unlikely as they would be inside eating)? How do you prove it was them? Or do you stop vehicles for violations for those hours and have a decent probability or arresting someone with more serious warrants out for their arrest?
If you all are such skilled detectives of robberies you should start a private detective agency.
I think the Fairbanks Police are doing a great job with their limited resources.
i have since learned i can pay other people with great results
Once had my cash taken from my unlocked car near my apartment at a real estate agency where there were always a bunch of teenagers hanging around. I suspect they took it because I saw them looking in my vehicle. They were "nice" enough to leave me a message to chastise me for leaving my car unlocked.
We really need a sales tax!!! Fairbanks is very safe compared to Anchorage, we can always do better, of course. It is also our responsibility to keep our things safe, in addition to law enforcement.
"Reports of serious crimes in Fairbanks are down" -- does not mean crime is down!! I've never heard about as many thefts as I have in the past 2 years, and FPD/DA does nothing -- barely accepts the report. I understand non-filing of reports -- have to jump through a bunch of hoops before they accept the report; once they do, no results. Waste of my time!
Fairbanks is the best place in the world to live!!
More good news! Have you all noticed that the crime rate on the borough assembly has also dropped significantly over the last couple of years?
Bornnbred: I don't disagree with you, and btw, you expressed yourself very well. Thank you for that.
Unlike some that post on here though, I recognize a large part of the cause and the unfortunate effect that it has. I work in the emergency services and I know how understaffed we are here. There is only so much that can be done with limited pools of personnel, and demanding more from a short staffed agency doesn't do anyone any good.
While I understand the frustration expressed by those who complain of slow or no response from FPD for property crimes, my point was that if they're unwilling to pay the taxes to hire an appropriate number of police officers for the work load FPD is under, then the complainers are actually a part of the problem.
You can only squeeze so much juice from a turnip y'know. Want more juice? Buy some more turnips.
TAC: LOL! You regularly crack me up. Thanks!
This article is good news; however Chief Hoffman is right, it is important to be cautiously optimistic about what the numbers mean. FPD is a swamped department, they are understaffed. They have a handful of investigators, who handle the “major” stuff such as rapes, murders, etc; while the other calls such as thefts, assaults, accidents, even some types of robberies are left for patrol officers to handle. By handle, I mean they take the initial report, determine if there is are possible suspects, develop the leads, conduct any interviews they deem necessary, and write a case to the district attorneys office for review. If the DA accepts the charges a warrant is filed and an arrest can be made. It is not uncommon for officers (still talking about the patrol officers a few of you have bashed) to have anywhere from five to thirty “open” cases they are currently working on. This is in addition to continuing to answer calls all over the city, calls for service. It is a struggle for them to keep their heads above water so to speak. They do an exceptional job considering the resources they have. Fairbanks is not a quiet, sleepy town. It is a very busy one for the police department. If you are skeptical of this, I encourage you to do a ride along on a Friday or Saturday night. Most citizens, those with an open mind, are usually surprised at just what their public servants are up to during the course of their shift.
As far as the disgruntlement towards the traffic unit, that was a unit created of several patrol officers who are good at that task. There are only a handful of them working specific hours during the week; they are not a round the clock unit. Traffic enforcement is very important to any city, as that often leads to arrests for other crimes (drugs, drunks, etc.) Traffic enforcement is proven to improve public safety, specifically when it is targeted to certain regions for extended time periods. Fairbanks has a horrible DUI/DWI problem. Stopping these people saves lives, period.
Police don't prevent crime, they simply do the paper work required afterwards and then what for someone to confess to something that they have on file. Many minor and some major crimes are, I believe, no longer reported. Making it illegal for some one to investigate and then take action against a person who has robed or hurt them was a big step towards making us a society of victims. If you are complaining that the govt. does not do enough to protect you then keep complaining. Maybe the sound of whining will keep the bad people away.
My perspective: If you've spent some time moving around Fairbanks, you'll know we have our slums like everywhere else. If you live in the hills, or near the river, enjoy the good life.
Those target areas of crime, gonna use Fairview manner, regardless of truth, as an example, should probably set up some neighborhood watch if they want to be proactive with crime. Apathy wont bring change for anyone. Being a good neighbor and having one, is worth a thousand policemen.
Everywhere has crime, drinking, drugs, sex, love, hate, etc; and cynicism to your current location doesn't just apply to Fairbanks. Move to Anchorage, come back, and tell me how great it is there for crime prevention. Doubtful.
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