Palm Springs residents in northern part of city voice shift in policing priorities as town hall meetings kick off

Roughly 50 city residents turned out Monday evening for the first of four neighborhood town hall meetings scheduled this week by the Palm Springs Police Department. The themes that bubbled up were similar to those heard in 2022 when the department last held listening sessions to learn the community’s policing priorities.

After remarks by Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills, residents from the North District who had gathered at Raymond Cree Middle School circulated throughout the cafeteria, looking over data that showed how crime has changed in the past two years. They then wrote their concerns on sticky notes and applied them to one of five boards with themes ranging from “Quality of Life” to “Violent Crime.”

As clusters of notes began to take shape on the five boards, so did the consensus of those in the room. During a similar meeting in 2022, residents in the northern section of the city were overwhelmingly worried about repeated incidents of violence, including gunfire. Residents who took part in the discussions Monday, however, identified homelessness and traffic issues as their primary concerns, followed by property crimes.

Mills told the audience that he and his officers heard their concerns in 2022 and placed a focus on violent crime prevention in their neighborhoods. While there are still occasional reports of gunshots, those reports have “decreased enormously” since the community outlined its priorities two years ago and police placed an emphasis on removing guns from the streets.

While crime reporting always requires context, and the statistics are being calculated differently than in 2022, numbers shared Monday show most crime reports are on the decrease. The police department reported 2,544 crimes in the city in 2021. In 2023, it reported 2,330. Mills pointed proudly to the fact there were no homicides in the city in 2023 (there were five in 2022) and that fatal collisions dropped from 16 in 2022 to seven in 2023.

Still, as residents were reminded Monday evening, the community can continue to play a role in helping those numbers decrease.

Speaking before the meeting, Lt. William Hutchinson said it’s essential that residents report any crime they suspect has been committed, no matter how small or whether they feel it would be a priority for police. Doing so helps law enforcement officers spot trends and identify potential serial criminals.

“Yes, we’re a tourist area,” Hutchinson said. “But most of our crime is localized. In many cases, we’re dealing with repeat offenders. When you report a crime, it helps us get the identities of people who commit crimes and identify patterns.”

There will be three additional opportunities for community members in the city’s Business District, Central District, and South District to identify their concerns this week. The first comes Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Convention Center’s east lawn. The second will be on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Hilton Palm Springs Tapestry Room. The final meeting is planned for Thursday at 4 p.m. at Indian Canyons Golf Resort South Clubhouse.

“With 47,000 residents and 50,000 to 60,000 visitors each year, we have a lot of priorities,” Mills said Monday evening. “The goal here is to police from your perspective.”

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