There were 20,205 violent crimes committed from January to June 30, 2009, while so far this year, there have been 18,096 violent crimes perpetrated in the city.
Property crimes also dropped 12 percent from the same period last year, from 16,628 incidents in 2009 to 14,650 so far this year.
Gascon attributes the reduction to Zone Enforcement strategies where police deploy officers and other resources to targeted neighborhoods where there has been an increase in violent crimes. Zone Enforcement, Gascon says, works hand in hand with his implementation of /*COMPSTAT*/, a computerized program which the chief brought to San Francisco from the LAPD to instantly track crime trends in the City's neighborhoods.
There have been 26 homicides so far this year, compared to 27 last year, but Gascon points out that the murder rate dropped by an unprecedented 55 percent in 2009 from the previous year. The chief says one murder is still too many but 26 homicides is still a low number for the city.
