Local police says they’re more effective than Sheriff”s Office
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Calexico Police claim they’re more effective fighting crime in their city than the Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff disagrees.
Calexico Police gave city council a national crime report they said shows they are best suited to continue providing public security for the city.
Calexico Police Officers Association President Sean Acuna said, “Our motto is we do with less and it’s been like that for years. And so we’re kind of used to that dynamic. Now, while things should improve, we’re doing great with what we have.”
The report shows Calexico Police leading the Sheriff’s Office in solving, closing or clearing violent crimes, property crimes and arson in 2013.
“In the last 8 months, about 12 months, we’ve got a lot of successful arrests involving shootings, stabbings, robbery that have led to convictions,” Acuna said.
The Sheriff’s Office disagrees they have low numbers. They said some of their numbers do not reflect accurately on the report prepared by Calexico Police.
I.C.S.O. Chief Deputy Scott Sheppard said, “Clearance rates occur when an arrest has been made, a case has been prosecuted, or if a case is closed due to no further evidentiary lead. Each month the Sheriff’s Office reports to the department of justice.”
We compared DOJ records between both agencies. They showed Calexico Police with high clearances – or cases closed – in 2013. But they showed the Sheriff’s Office with higher numbers of cases closed in 2016.
“[They] encompass six crimes: aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, theft, property crimes and violent crimes,” Sheppard said.
Sheppard explained that if they’re selected to take over patrolling Calexico, they’ll need to hire more officers, eventually. He said they’re prepared for the task with what they actually have temporarily.
“The initial response would be using existing personnel, because of the hiring process and police training; it would take us about a year to hire other staffing that we would need to appropriately provide services for the City of Calexico,” Sheppard said.
Both agencies stressed they have great respect for each other and will continue working together to provide security to the public
Anyone can visit the Department of Justice website to compare statistics year by year. For more information, click here.
