The Fort Worth police chief laid out his strategy for reducing violent crime in the city on Tuesday.
"It comes down to two words really: police and partnerships," Chief Neil Noakes told the Fort Worth City Council during a marathon work session Tuesday afternoon. "Partnerships with social service agencies, partnerships with our educators, partnerships with nonprofits (and) with private industry; but it also means partnerships with our communities."
Noakes said building partnerships within the communities is of utmost importance.
"Quite frankly, oftentimes the communities that need us the most are the ones that trust us the least," Noakes said.
Last year, Fort Worth saw 94 deadly shootings and 294 shootings that resulted in injuries.
Noakes said the majority of the victims fell into specific demographic categories.
"Ninety-two percent are adult (and) 86% are male," Noakes said. "And here's where real disparity jumps out: 62% (are) African American."
Last May, the department launched "Fort Worth Safe," using technology and data to help identify where crimes are happening.
It netted 671 arrests from May to September and even more since then.
"More targeted precise arrests of violent actors in our neighborhoods, more weapons confiscated and taken off the streets," Noakes said. "And the majority of the 992 arrests -- 639 -- were felony arrests."
The chief expanded on what the next steps would be for the department as it tries to reduce violent crime.
"We're going to look at a temporary unit, where we bring in multiple resources from multiple units within the Fort Worth Police Department, to focus specifically on violent crime, and more importantly gun crime in the city of Fort Worth."
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