Paco Balderrama thought he would have a honeymoon period as Fresno's new police chief. A recent surge in violent crime changed his mind. "Initially, I had a 30, 60, 90 day plan to kind of ease in and get to know everybody, not just the department members, but also the...
Maxwell Distances Himself From Young Dems’ Police Chief Criticism
Fresno City Councilman-elect Tyler Maxwell is also president of the Fresno County Young Democrats. A statement by the group criticizing police chief Andy Hall led Maxwell to walk a fine line between the two constituencies he serves. Last week, the Young Dems issued a statement about police accountability after the...
No River Park Riot. Just Quincy Pondexter and the Community.
The most dangerous thing at River Park on Tuesday afternoon was a skateboarder rolling along the sidewalk. As 4 p.m. came and passed, a threatened riot at the shopping center in northeast Fresno never materialized. Instead, nearly 100 members of the community joined Fresno police to keep the shopping center...
Hundreds Gather at Northeast Fresno Vigil for George Floyd
As violent protests dotted Minneapolis and the rest of the country after the death of George Floyd, nearly 200 peaceful protesters gathered for a vigil Friday night in northeast Fresno. "Black lives matter! It bears repeating," organizer Karen Polnitz told the crowd, most wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Video of...
Councilman Arias and Chief Hall Get Into Gun 'Battle'
The Fresno Police Department needs 900 new guns. And, the city council and the mayor's office tentatively have agreed to pay for them. But, the path to "yes" included a testy exchange between council president Miguel Arias and police chief Andy Hall at Thursday's meeting. Police Gun Request Hall told...
Fresno PD Officer-Involved Shootings at Record Low, Dismissals Go Up
The Fresno Police Department had historic lows for officer-involved shootings and bias complaints in 2019 while experiencing a six-year high in employee dismissals. Those are the big takeaways from the city's Office of Independent Review fourth-quarter report. Listen to this article: The independent reviewer said that the three officer-involved shootings...
Fresno Police Arrest 6 Gang Members in Killings of 4 Hmong Men
UPDATE Six suspects are in custody in the mass shooting that killed four Hmong residents on Nov. 17 and are being held in the Fresno County Jail. Fresno Police Chief Andy Hall announced the arrests in a news conference Tuesday morning. The suspects are all self-admitted members of the Mongolian...
Fresno Police Arrest 3 in Killings of 4 Hmong Men
UPDATES Three suspects in the mass shooting that killed four Hmong residents on Nov. 17 were arrested Monday night and are being held in Fresno County Jail. The suspects are Pao Choua Vang, 30, Johnny Xiong, 25, and Jhovanny Delgado, 19. According to jail records, Fresno police officers arrested Xiong...
Fresno Police Chief Search Team Will Include 3 Councilmen
Fresno Mayor Lee Brand has blessed a request that the city council have a larger role in the search for Andy Hall's successor as police chief. The compromise forged by the mayor and councilman Nelson Esparza comes amid lingering controversy about Hall's appointment after the retirement of longtime chief Jerry Dyer...
Lawyers in Murrietta-Golding Shooting Case Have Won Big Settlements
The Fresno City Council is scheduled to discuss the lawsuit involving a 16-year old boy shot and killed by Fresno police in 2017 during closed session at the Nov. 7 meeting. It will be the first time that council members formally discuss the lawsuit since a video of the incident...