New Police Patrols Planned for Blackstone

Fresno police plan to step up patrols along one of the city’s busiest streets.

Chief Jerry Dyer says he will have a team of officers focus patrols on Blackstone avenue near Dakota. The area has the scene of recent shootings.

Fresno police routinely patrol Blackstone because criminals like to use this major thoroughfare.

"If we didn’t patrol this area, it would get completely out of hand. Your population here is mainly transient in nature," said Sgt. James Fowler with the Fresno Police Department.

People who come and go from low-cost motels.
Sergeant James Fowler leads one of the violent crime impact teams in the city.

"We see prostitution, we see narcotic sales, narcotics usage," Sgt. Fowler said.

Fowler stopped one woman who he suspected of working the area as a prostitute.
She told us she stays in a motel here, but she’s not working here.

"I like this area because I get to meet a lot of different people. And I try to make them happy when they’re sad, because I don’t like to see them sad," the woman, Anna, said.

This year, the crime on Blackstone has become more violent. Several shootings so far this year.

"Most of the time the shooters are from another area but they come here because they know gangsters frequent that location," Fowler said.

Police stopped an SUV near Blackstone because one of the headlights was out.
Officers arrested the driver, a gang member who had a warrant.

Police chief Jerry Dyer plans to devote officers specifically to the Blackstone and Dakota corridor this summer.
And he’d like to move the violent crime impact team into Manchester center.

"When all of those things come to pass, we’re going to see a significant reduction in and around that Blackstone and Dakota area," Dyer said.

In the meantime, officers plan to patrol here as often as possible, to make it less attractive to those who want commit crimes.