These days I find myself solely preoccupied with capital spending, maintaining our infrastructure, how much money the City has in the bank and maintaining City services at the high level we’ve come to expect. It wasn’t long ago however my civic priorities were different. At that time I proudly carried a badge and looked at our community in terms of who’s out there behaving badly.
I had the opportunity to witness the changes that took place in our City over the past 30 years with crime and combating crime. I saw how combating crime has changed as a result of increasing population, the advent of the information age and technology advancements.
Violence seems on the rise and it seems every day brings on a newer and greater horror. When you look at what goes on in our country and even look at what goes on in the Bay Area you can be very thankful you live in this community. We are very fortunate to have in our midst what I believe is the finest police department you’ll find anywhere. Perhaps I’m a little biased but not by much. The absence of crime doesn’t occur by accident.
I also know from experience what it takes to develop and maintain a first class police department. Our City’s Fathers have for years allocated the money to fund the very best public safety we could afford. We’ve always chosen our law enforcement leaders wisely and we’ve empowered them with our support to do their job. This is why we are safer than other cities and this is why I for one rest comfortably every night.
I commend our Chief of Police Craig Courtin and his staff of professionals and I thank them for the times they’ve placed themselves in harm’s way so that we can go about our lives safely and in peace. I would like to proudly share with you some facts and figures which illustrate my profound appreciation of our men and women in blue not to mention our police dispatchers, police reserve officers, records specialists, community service officers and police volunteers.
The statistics I’ll be providing are based upon the FBI’s reporting of felony part 1 crimes (homicide, robbery, burglary, assault, rape, mayhem and arson) with 451 California cities reporting. From this report data Foster City has the 9th lowest violent crime rate of any city in the State of California with a population of 25k to 499k which puts us in the top 2%.
Of cities with a population of 20k to 30k Foster City has the 6th lowest rate of property crimes (theft and burglary) in the whole state. And when compared to all cities in the whole State of California Foster City has the 50th lowest rate of violent crime and 33rd lowest rate of property crime. This to me is overwhelmingly impressive when you factor into the equation most cities used in this comparison have populations of less than 5,000 people.
These figures are not something new. The Foster City Police Department has maintained these impressive numbers consistently for decades and these statistics are the direct result of professional leadership, dedication to duty and public support.
I’ve always believed you get what you pay for and I can proudly say without hesitation that in Foster City we get more than our money’s worth. Most of us would not go into a building where a person has been reported waving a gun around for a million dollars. Foster City’s finest do it for a whole lot less.
I hope to see you at my Sunday meetings between 3:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M at the Council Chambers. You can stop by and ask questions or voice concerns or discuss any matter you have on your mind. If you have any questions or remarks you wish heard before then please feel free to call me at 650-286-3504 or e-mail me at jkiramis@fostercity.org.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve you.
print 