Fresno police can’t assign more officers to city schools amid violent crime wave
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Fresno Police were pulling away officers assigned to some of the city’s middle schools in an effort to combat violent crime. The story has been corrected to note the police department is not reducing any staff, but won’t add new officers to cover the city’s newly opened Justin Garza High.
Citing a violent crime wave and low staffing, Fresno Police Department officials say can’t assign additional officers to Central Unified school campuses.
With the opening Wednesday of Central Unified’s newest school — Justin Garza High — district officials asked for an officer to be assigned to the new campus.
But with the city confronting a deadly crime wave and the police department facing staffing issues, Fresno Deputy Police Chief Burke Farrah told the Central Unified school board the city doesn’t have another officer to spare.
“I wish I could provide more of them to you, but we are in a hiring crisis. We’re running short, and, as you noticed, we’re experiencing an increase in crime,” Farrah told the Central Unified School board on Tuesday.
In an interview Wednesday afternoon with The Bee, Farrah said the department did not cut any officers from school campuses. The officer assigned to Justin Garza High was transferred from one of the district’s middle schools.
“We don’t have an extra one available. So we moved that officer over,” Farrah said.
The decision comes on the heels of Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama’s “all hands on deck” effort announced earlier this month to combat the latest wave of gun and street violence.
Speaking with reporters on Aug. 3, Balderrama noted homicides have more than doubled — more than 40 already this year compared to just over 20 homicides reported in the city around the same time last year. Shootings are also on the rise, with more than 400 reported already this year, compared to about 315 a year ago.
Balderrama pledged to beef up his department’s street violence bureau and faster response times for high-priority calls, which, he acknowledged, would lead to more overtime expenses.
“We cannot put up with this anymore,” Balderrama said of the violence. “When we overly focus on violent crime, we will drive the numbers down. The shootings will go down, the homicides will go down, we will put a lot of people in jail. But we will suffer in other areas.”
Farrah, on Tuesday, delivered a similar message to Central Unified school leaders.
“I can’t take cops away from police beats in order to serve in schools,” Farrah said. “That may sound harsh; that may sound cold, but those are the facts.”
Teachers who spoke during public comments on Tuesday said they liked police officers on campus because they kept “campuses safe” and were seen as a “deterrent.”
“School resources officers are a visible deterrent. Students and staff feel safer when the school resource officer is on campus, and I as well as students appreciate the fact that they are there to help when the few students who commit terrible acts against students or faculty are immediately or visibly held accountable,” El Capitan middle school teacher Greg Sullivan said during public comment.
But not all members of the board agree that police should be on school grounds.
“What I hear from some of our marginalized communities is that they are afraid to be on our campus,” Board President Yessenia Carrillo said.
The board agreed to conduct a district-wide survey from students, families, and teachers to understand better how families and staff feel about police.
“I want to ensure we are creating an environment where our teachers and students staff feel safe and that we are creating an environment where our students have positive interactions with police officers; that it’s not just negative,” Carillo said.
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 8:48 AM.