PHOENIX — Thursday night on 12 News at 10 p.m., our I-Team takes a deep dive into crime zones in Phoenix and analyzes the trends over time.
According to Phoenix crime statistics, violent crime is overall down across the city compared to years past. But after analyzing those statistics, the 12 News I-Team found there are certain pockets in Phoenix where that's not the case.
“Using crime statistics is probably the most important thing that law enforcement agencies and their communities can rely on," said Scott Wolfe, an Associate Professor of Criminology at Michigan State. “Using the data that’s at their disposal to intelligently guide those limited resources will go a long way in essentially putting police officers in the right spot.”
From 2017 to 2018, the Phoenix uniform crime reports show most violent crime decreased.
“Our chief of police is doing a great job in managing her teams of people around the city, trying to provide the best training they can for our officers," said Detective Luis Samudio of the Phoenix Police Department.
According to police data, while robberies, homicides and sexual assaults all went down last year, aggravated assaults went up.
Certain pockets of the city actually had more violent crime compared to the year before as well. Some of those spots include the Biltmore area. Another is off the Loop 101 between 35th Ave. and 75th Ave.
“If there are certain areas that we’re seeing that are certain hot spots depending on the area of the city, the precincts will normally assume a lot of that. They’re working together with our analysts to see what time these crimes are occurring," said Detective Samudio.
“The big thing that agencies need to do and communities need to do is find a way to work together," said Wolfe.
Phoenix Police are turning to citizens to help better patrol and cut down crime.
With thousands of residents installing their own at-home cameras, police have launched their virtual block watch program which allows officers to know where security cameras in the area are. That way, if a crime is committed, they can quickly sort through video footage in hopes of finding a suspect.
“We hope that our community members, your viewers, will continue working with us," said Detective Samudio.