FORT WORTH, Texas — Tuesday, Fort Worth's police chief shared how violent crime continues to impact the city and his strategy to reduce it.
The chief says, his department is not just doing plain old fashion police work, but relying on technology.
The chief presented his plan in front of the city council Tuesday, Feb. 15.
“When I threw my hat in the ring to become chief, one of the questions we were asked, what is your number one? What do you want to address first? Violent crime," said Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes.
“What we’re seeing in the recipe is not that difficult. Comes down to two words, police and partnerships,” he said.
Noakes said in Fort Worth, in 2020, there were 112 homicides; and in 2021, there were 118 homicides.
In 2020, there were over 2,800 aggravated assaults in the city. In 2021, that number rose to more than 3,000.
During WFAA's one-on-one with the chief, he was asked what the plan is.
“Partnering with our faith leaders, it’s policing and partnerships,” said Noakes.
The chief said his department plans on combining task forces to hit violent neighborhoods hard.
“Combining the resources that the units that we have into a team, and combine all of those all of those experts if you will,” said Noakes.
The chief pinpointed hotspots in the Fort Worth area, from the West, to Las Vegas trail, to the South area, downtown and to the southeast side of the city.
Officers are now trying a different approach to make arrests.
“With this technology, intelligence, cameras, and things we have, allows us to be specific in our traffic stops and our arrests. We’re drilling down to that level to go after the people that are committing the acts of violence," said Noakes.
The bottom line, the chief said, officers are out there, but they can’t do it alone. It's all hands on deck. They need the public’s help. If you see something, say something.