COVID playing role in rising Clovis thefts and ‘crimes of opportunity,’ police chief says
While Clovis did not see a big increase in overall crime in 2020, Police Chief Curtis Fleming said more people being at home during the pandemic may have influenced some of the local crime trends.
Overall crime in Clovis rose by 2.1% in 2020 — a year that saw the types of crimes change largely related to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Fleming.
While there were incremental changes in the eight Part 1 crimes required to be reported to the FBI and state each year, Clovis saw particularly large spikes in crimes considered less serious — namely thefts from motor vehicles (26.7%) and thefts of motor vehicles (26%).
For example, there were 811 thefts from vehicles in 2020 compared to 594 the previous year. Auto thefts rose from 159 in 2019 to 201 last year, the report says.
At the same time, shoplifting plummeted by 36% in 2020 while crimes at residential homes — burglary and breaking and entering — were down by almost 3%, according to the report.
The COVID-19 pandemic had many more people staying home all day and many businesses closed, Fleming noted.
“Property crimes related to businesses have gone down a ton,” he said. “In reality, crime in 2019 to 2020, it is pretty much the same. Because of COVID, people needed to find another way to commit their crimes of opportunity.”
Serious offenses
Part 1 crimes reported to the FBI include violent crimes like murder, manslaughter, assault, rape and robbery plus property crimes like burglary, arson, larceny and auto theft.
Clovis reported a single homicide in its annual report, according to police. There were no homicides in 2019.
It was the Aug. 30, 2020, fatal officer-involved shooting of 26-year-old Nikolas Frazier of Clovis. Police said he pointed a rifle at officers in the Walmart parking lot on Herndon Avenue before he was shot by six Clovis officers.
The Fresno County District Attorney has not made a determination on whether the shooting was justified, according to office spokesperson Jerry Stanley.
Rape cases in Clovis decreased by 24% in 2020, but robbery was up by 21%. The relatively low numbers of cases — 41 rapes and 39 robberies — make even the smallest changes appear large percentage-wise, Fleming noted.
Firearms
Fleming said the department has seen an increase in people possessing guns illegally, particularly in the last quarter of 2020. There were 128 guns seized in 2020, which was 28 more than the previous year.
In the summer, state officials initiated a zero bail policy for a number of nonviolent crimes in order to thin out the number of people cramped in jails with the potential to spread COVID-19. Fleming said gang members felt more comfortable illegally carrying a weapon as the year went on.
“I think it’s related to, ‘I’m carrying a gun, it’s a misdemeanor, but I’ll be out in a couple of hours,’ “ he said.
There is also a growing trend of so-called “ghost guns,” when a partially manufactured gun without a serial number is shipped through the mail, Fleming said. The person receiving the package can finish the weapon and make it usable without having to register it.
Traffic
The city of Clovis saw seven people die in six crashes in 2020. That’s up for zero in 2019, and Fleming said it’s difficult to pinpoint why.
Shaw, Clovis and Herndon avenues are major thoroughfares and were locations for some — but not all — of those fatal accidents. Eight of the ten intersections with the most tickets for moving violations are on those streets, the report shows.
Challenges ahead
Fleming said the latest report is the last of its kind, saying police will begin to track crimes with the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System. COVID-19 has also delayed that system so will it will be implemented later this year.
“It’s actually going to capture more information in the future,” he said.
Clovis Police Department has 101 officers and is authorized to go up to 105 by midyear, Fleming said. He’s still looking to add more.
“I’m trying to match the growth of the department with the growth of the city,” he said. “We’re having a hell of a time hiring officers.”
