‘We’ll make some hard decisions in the next few weeks’ Palm Springs police targets rising gun violence
The Palm Springs Police Department is considering a variety of solutions to address an ongoing rise in violent crime citywide.
"The gun violence problems in the northern part of our city. That is priority number one. We cannot afford to have people driving through the neighborhood and getting shot," said PSPD Chief Andy Mills.
PSPD is working to apply solutions from community members to solve rising crime citywide. This comes after hearing from residents during a series of town halls in all five voting districts last month.
The input shows homelessness is the next big concern, next to gun violence. In a surprising move – officers knocked on doors in the northern Desert Highland Gateway Estates neighborhood a couple of weeks ago in the wake of violent crime there.
Lessons from Desert Highlands Gateway Estates: ppl are truly afraid; they genuinely love their neighborhood; they want thoughtful violence intervention, including greater police presence @PalmSpringsPD 2% landmass 30% of gun violence. About to change. @CityofPS @GraceGarnerCA pic.twitter.com/zvuI5DjCTx
— Andrew Mills (@ChiefAndyMills) March 6, 2022
“Even people that maybe weren’t too enthusiastic to talk with the police were still very polite and kind"
- PSPD Chief andy mills
Mills said officers could go door-to-door again to hear resident concerns in the future. That type of community engagement is what local resident Corrine Griswold wants to see often, but most of all, she thinks any crime-fighting approach should include...
“Police going out to the schools and having some kind of outreach program to all of the elementary and middle schools," Griswold said.
Griswold was a teacher who retired at the start of the pandemic. Before her retirement, she says she would invite police into her classroom to build trust between law enforcement and students.
News Channel 3 reviewed the findings of a recent survey by PSPD. It shows that resident support for the following solutions to help reduce violence.
- 80% would like ShotSpotter technology installed
- ShotSpotter is a technology that listens for sounds like gunfire and pinpoints the location for law enforcement.
- 62% want more police on the streets
The Nextdoor app is one tool that Griswold and other residents use to monitor for crime in their neighborhoods, but there are other tools that have become popular also.
“We have a ring doorbell, it's up there and we just keep in contact with our neighbors," Griswold said.
As far as a timeline for when PSPD will implement new safety measures?
“We’ll make some hard decisions in the next few weeks. It also has a budgetary impact," Mills said.
The chief says he wants to uphold one thing no matter what.
“I know what the community doesn’t want. They don’t want heavy-handed enforcement," Mills said.
Mills says he plans to address every concern presented to the department but needs help from residents to accomplish that goal.
He said, “We’re not asking everybody up there to be an informant, but at the same time if you want your community cleaned up we do need to work with the community to get the information we need to settle things down and to control that, but more importantly we’re interested in building a relationship with the community.”
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.
