'Sin City' residents give police thumbs up

Community organization grades police force with a B for safety plan

By Maurice Ndole

Crime persists at El Dorado Park near Bulldog Stadium, but residents are giving Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer’s safety plan a cautious thumbs-up just six months after traffic police replaced Fresno police at the northeast substation.

Residents of the crime- prone area, popularly known as ‘Sin City,’ expressed safety concerns last year over the relocation of the police substation prompting Dyer into a three-tier safety plan pact with the community.

The plan seems to be paying off.

During the launch of the plan, Dyer promised to name a contact officer in the area and established a hotline number for El Dorado Park. He also committed to increase police patrol in the area and create a police-community partnership.

A survey conducted by Faith in Community, an organization formed to improve the quality of life in El Dorado Park, has given the police a grade of B on the three commitments.

The November survey of 154 people showed there was a positive relationship between the police, the neighborhood and Stone Soup Fresno, a non-profit organization providing community service to the residents.

Part of the survey, however, indicated eight people reported using the tip-line, a figure representing less than 6 percent of the sample. The survey also indicated a lack of prompt response from the police on the tip-line.

Mathew Jendian, a professor of sociology and the director of the humanics program, said the police have done a good job interacting with the community, but more community policing efforts need to be implemented.

Jendian, who helped design and conduct the survey, said results generally indicated that El Dorado residents were interacting positively with the police.

“ Our evaluation of the police has been fairly positive,” Jendian said. “We believe that the relationship has started off well.”

“ We are happy with the traffic division being here, they are very cooperative,” said Doris Dyer, volunteer human resources coordinator at Stone Soup Fresno.

Dyer said the traffic police have done a good job of deterring crime by patrolling the neighborhood and engaging with the community.

But community interaction with the police hasn’t stopped all crime in the area.

“ There are reports of increased vandalism and gang activity, specifically drug sales on the property,” Jendian said. “[But] it’s not that the crime has gone down but that police are visiting and working with the community in a more collaborative fashion.”

Fresno State freshman Andrew Gallagher, who lives in the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house at El Dorado Park, said he has noticed a lot of police presence in the area.

“ I’ve seen things change overnight,” Gallagher said. “They are just getting a little stricter. You always see a cop in every corner on a bike.”

Lisa Fazio, a business marketing major at Fresno State who has lived in a sorority house in El Dorado Park for four years, said crime has remained high despite the presence of the police.

“ My only problem with them is that they’ll come running when there is a stereo playing loud at a fraternity. We had three cars broken into in a week and they were not around for that,” Fazio said. “I think they should concentrate on real crimes and not loud stereos or parties.”

Fresno State senior Katie Fink, who also lives in a sorority house at El Dorado Park, said she has had her car broken into once and stolen twice in the last year. Fink said the police presence was necessary in the area.

“ There are a lot of police around here,” Fink said. “I have actually seen police drive through even on quiet nights but I haven’t seen any problems to be solved lately.”

Sgt. Eric Eide of the Fresno Police Department traffic division said their success in the community was not based on whether there were police on cars or on motorcycles.

“ We have recovered some stolen cars, made some arrests, written some tickets, attended several community meetings and my understanding is that the El Dorado people are pleased with our participation,” Eide said.