Family of Fresno murder victims, activists, call for 'equity in policing'

Family members of a young man shot and killed in west Fresno and of a young woman found dead in a Fresno canal gathered with community activists Thursday afternoon outside Fresno Police Department headquarters to ask for answers and fair treatment.

Activist Gloria Hernandez read a list of recommendations for Fresno police that centered on improving how officers interact with the community. She urged police to treat family members of murder victims with respect, and to provide them with more information about cases regarding their loved ones, along with how to get support services like counseling.

Chao Yang spoke through tears in Hmong, translated by an interpreter, about how she has received little information about the death of her 20-year-old daughter, Lucy Xiong, found dead in a section of canal along Van Ness Avenue between Olive and Belmont avenues in early August.

Xiong's death was deemed suspicious but not a homicide. Her family believes she was killed. The family said they had difficulty speaking with police because they haven't had access to an interpreter.

Another family was at the 4 p.m. news conference to talk about the murder of Adalberto "Cuate" Ocampo. The 17-year-old was shot and killed at California and Elm avenues while out walking in January. Police and Cuate's family said he was not involved in a gang.

His family is asking for more police surveillance cameras in neighborhoods where crime is higher.

"The mother is over there crying her eyes out," said the Rev. Floyd Harris Jr., assistant pastor of New Light For New Life Church of God in west Fresno, after the news conference. "Her babies are hugging her right now because there is a pain that's in her 24 hours a day. She is saying, 'I just want answers. I want you to hear me.' But the problem in Fresno is, people in power do not want to hear from people who do not have power."

Harris said people need to "come together and dialogue about truth."

"That's all they're asking. … We just want to be heard, Chief (Jerry Dyer)," Harris said. "Why is that so hard?"

Activists said they have met with police in the past, but that they want the department to reach out to them.

The group is planning a march Saturday to the site where Ocampo was shot. They will depart from a community center at California and Elm by 10 a.m.

Police response

A police spokesman did not return an email or phone call Thursday afternoon, but Dyer responded Friday.

Dyer, who said the news conference took him by surprise, said he hadn't been contacted by the group in the past several years to meet with families of homicide victims. But he added that he is "always available to meet with victims' families, and I do so frequently."

Dyer was with Ocampo's family and families of other murder victims the previous week while participating in a Bringing Broken Neighborhoods Back to Life peace march and gathering.

Dyer said police provide families of victims with information about how to get support services, and that the department utilizes interpreters. He said he knows, however, that there are times when detectives could communicate more with families while trying to solve murders.

Of police surveillance cameras, Dyer said an estimated 80 percent or more are in south Fresno where violent crime is higher – as is an estimated 90 percent of the city’s ShotSpotter technology.

"The reality is it doesn't matter to our detectives the race of a victim," Dyer said. "We want to solve that homicide or shooting as quickly as we possibly can."

This story was originally published March 29, 2018 at 7:29 PM with the headline "Family of Fresno murder victims, activists, call for 'equity in policing'."