Farmington, NM - The Farmington Police Department is working to combat property crime with a newly implemented program – impact teams. The teams are led by a corporal and comprised of one member of each of the following divisions: patrol, detectives, District Coordinator Unit, and traffic. Their monthly operations are carried out using a data-driven approach to decrease crime in problem areas. Target crimes include residential burglary, auto burglary and shoplifting. The team chooses a specific crime and location according to data provided by FPD’s crime analyst. “Property crimes are among some of the most difficult to investigate and incredibly frustrating for our citizens,” said Capt. Dowdy. “By taking a proactive, data-driven approach to these types of crimes, we hope to greatly reduce the number of occurrences.”
The impact team’s initial operation took place in September 2017; they’ve since conducted five successful operations. December’s operation targeted shoplifting at select major retail stores and resulted in 23 arrests; the highest number thus far. Of those arrests, 19 were from warrants, 11 from shoplifting charges, four trespassing charges, seven drug-related charges and one open container charge. The team’s most recent operation took place in January and focused on burglaries in known problem areas; six arrests and three citations were issued. Of those arrests, two were of individuals who had warrants for burglary.
The program’s overall success will be measured by the number of arrests made in addition to whether or not target crimes in specific areas decrease. “The safety and well-being of the community are of the utmost importance to FPD,” said Capt. Dowdy. “We will continue to monitor crime trends, analyze the effectiveness of this new program and adjust our approach to addressing these crimes as appropriate.”