The Phoenix Police Department released an updated Crime Reduction Plan for 2024 on Tuesday, building on a comprehensive strategy unveiled a year ago.
The department made changes in response to trends that have emerged since the initial version was released in June 2023, interim Chief Michael Sullivan told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.
As a result, the 2024 plan addresses youth violence, traffic, and fentanyl-related crime, none of which were mentioned in last year’s version.
According to the new report, certain crimes committed by people under the age of 18 went up 76% from 2022 to 2023.
“This summer, we are specifically targeting the parties the juvenile parties. We have a specific squad that will be created to try to get to those parties before anything bad can happen,” said Ed DeCastro, the assistant chief in charge of investigations with Phoenix Police.
However, Phoenix Police is short about 600 officers, DeCastro said, but he believes they’ll still be able to work toward those goals to reduce crime.
“I think we can achieve that and we’ve implemented some technology and we tried to work a little bit smarter to be able to achieve those goals, so I think they’re attainable, but I think it’s going to take a lot of work,” he said.
Read more of this story from ABC15's news partner KTAR here.
