Do police staffing levels threaten Clovis Way of Life? No, but let’s form a committee
Don’t look now, but the Clovis Way of Life is under threat.
Turns out the safest city in the Valley, a description city leaders are fond of employing, particularly in comparison to its larger, more unruly neighbor, doesn’t have enough cops on the street.
Clovis Police Chief Curt Fleming “shocked” members of the City Council when he banged that particular gong in November, and this week they responded by doing what politicians typically do when confronted with a responsibility they’d rather not take on themselves.
Yup, they formed a committee. One that’s unwieldy (25 members), full of political favors (some appointees are aspiring electeds themselves; others don’t even live in Clovis) and issued vague marching orders.
“I think the chances of this group being successful are really small,” said Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck, the lone “no” vote in a 4-1 decision.
Whether Clovis is truly the Valley’s safest city is beside the point. (Compared to Fresno? Sure. Compared to every other city between Sacramento and Bakersfield? I’ll let someone else sift that data.) What matters is the perception of its safety.
And when Fleming, backed by a consultant’s report, informed the world that Clovis Police Department staffing levels remain more or less what they were in 2006 without keeping pace with the city’s growing population and what that could mean in the future, he pin-pricked that perception. Just ever so slightly.
Which explains why City Council members, two of whom have law enforcement backgrounds, practically tripped over themselves in search of a solution to a problem that may not actually exist. (Clovis Mayor Jose Flores is chief of the State Center Community College District Police Department. Drew Bessinger was public safety manager for Fresno Yosemite International Airport and served in multiple police departments before that.)
Does Clovis need more cops because the city has increasing crime? Are residents increasingly unsafe? Sure doesn’t appear that way.
Yes, Clovis experienced an unusually high number of homicides in 2021. There were five, up from two in 2020 and zero in 2019. But three of those were domestic violence cases, situations where a few extra cops wouldn’t have made a difference.
Could more police patrols have prevented the well-publicized double murder at an Old Town Clovis bar in May? Suppose so, but it seems unlikely.
Violent crime in Clovis trending down
According to the FBI database, violent crime in Clovis is trending down after moderate increases from 2010-16. Property crime is down overall as well, with the exception of vehicle-part thefts. As anyone who’s recently had their catalytic converter stolen can attest.
What about robberies? A slight upswing since 2019. Burglaries? A slight dip. Trespassing and vandalism/destruction of property? Those are both up. Kidnapping and rape? Both down.
In other words, there’s no real evidence that stagnant staffing levels within the Clovis PD has resulted in any crime wave or threat to public safety. But by sounding that particular alarm, Fleming succeeded in both dinging the perception and setting off the city’s elected leaders.
Nice going.
Don’t know about you, but I’ve yet to encounter a police chief who didn’t advocate for more cops. That’s their natural proclivity. And I’m sure Fleming is frustrated his officers can’t respond to every animal control call, non-injury accident or burglary alarm at a business.
A better question might be whether those types of calls should even be the police department’s responsibility. Perhaps in a city of 50,000, which Clovis was in 1990. But maybe not in a city of 120,000, which Clovis is today.
When a city grows as rapidly as Clovis has, certain sacrifices are inevitable. Regardless of whether its leaders wish to acknowledge them.
During Monday’s City Council debate, the most pertinent points were raised by Councilmember Bob Whalen. Besides asking how city spending on public safety can increase by 78 percent over the last five years without any of that going to more patrol officers, the Fresno County prosecutor (and judicial candidate) posed multiple versions of this:
“How is it that we’ve remained the safest city in the Valley without having enough patrol officers for the last 15 years?”
Let me take a stab at an answer: Clovis has remained a safe city because there isn’t much crime. And when crimes do occur, the police are on top of things.
Just saved committee members quite a bit of time.
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
