Tempe's crime rate drops for 5th straight year

The crime rate has fallen for the fifth consecutive year to the lowest point in 20 years in Tempe, a city that has historically had the Valley's highest crime rate.

GRAPHIC: Tempe crime stats

Tempe's crime rate fell nearly 10 percent last year, and violent crime dropped even more.

The type of crime that fell the most in 2007 was auto theft, which dropped almost 34 percent.

Property crime was down 9.2 percent, while violent crime fell 16.3 percent.

Police attribute the progress to new philosophies and strategies in crime-fighting. Top managers meet every two weeks and pore over crime analysis statistics to see what types of crimes are up and where they're occurring. They then increase crime prevention efforts and manpower to target the problem, Sgt. Scott Smith said.

And they've made sworn officers rush to calls in progress if they're nearby - even if the officers' duties involve other types of crime. "If you're available in the area, you're expected to respond," Smith said.

By swarming officers in an area, police have been able to capture more suspects, he said.

Some other changes: A departmental reorganization. Shifting robbery detectives to the night shift, so they can respond when the crimes are more likely to occur. Speeding up crime analysis work to spot trends earlier than before. Asking public works employees to report information to police.

Tempe police also share manpower with the Arizona State University Police. The bike squads of each organization work together in downtown Tempe on weekends, when Tempe police need more officers. Those officers then shift to help ASU police during the week, when campus activity creates a greater demand for police work.

Police also attribute the drop in crime to more staffing. The city funds 348 positions for sworn officers, up from 327 two years ago.

The department is buying software that can boost communication by letting officers on different shifts share information about what's going on in specific police beats, Smith said.

Police are trying to get residents to help prevent crime. People make it easier for burglars or thieves when they leave valuables in view or fail to lock doors or windows, he said. Open garage doors all but invite thieves. "Don't advertise to the criminals that you have a new set of Ping golf clubs," Smith said. "You'd be amazed at how many garages are left (open)."Tempeans can help by watching for suspicious activity and reporting it because police can't be everywhere, Sgt. Cindy Davies said.

"We depend a lot on the community to be our eyes and ears out there," Davies said.

Tempeans gave police high marks in the latest citizen survey overseen by the department. The survey was conducted late last year and included phone calls and post cards mailed to residents. A total of 2,456 citizens responded and police released the results this week. Among the findings:

87 percent rated police service as good or very good.

80 percent said their neighborhoods were safe or very safe.

69 percent said there was a low or very low chance of them being a crime victim while walking in their neighborhood at night.

48 percent said burglary was their top crime concern in their neighborhood.

49 percent said they had been a victim of a crime in Tempe.

12 percent said they had been a victim of a crime in Tempe but did not report it. Large numbers of those people said they did not report it because they didn't think it would resolve anything or that it was too minor to report.

35 percent said the amount of Tempe crime was serious or very serious.

17 percent said they had not gone somewhere in Tempe because they thought it would be unsafe.

45 percent said Tempe has unsafe areas. The top unsafe areas identified were Apache Boulevard, areas around Arizona State University and north Tempe. The top unsafe area identified in south Tempe was Arizona Mills Mall.