Earlier this month Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone met with members of the media from smaller outlying communities served by the Sheriff’s Office and presented a strong message of cooperation between law enforcement and residents.

MCSO District Commander in Fountain Hills, Capt. Hank Brandimarte made a semi-annual presentation to the Town Council on Oct. 17, and echoed some of the same themes presented by Sheriff Penzone the week earlier.

Penzone said the Sheriff’s Office derives its authority from the communities it serves, and the better you know the community the better job you can do.

“Working with Silent Witness for as long as I did you recognize how powerful the community is in solving crimes,” Penzone said. “Being a good listener and understanding what is important helps build trust.”

Brandimarte outlined the list of recent community activities in which the Sheriff’s Office participated in for Fountain Hills. This included one-on-one interaction at events like Coffee With a Cop and FROYO - Cops and Kids at a local frozen yogurt shop, as well as events where deputies were just there to meet people against the backdrop of a broader activity like the Back to School Bash, Fourth at the Fountain and Senior Action Days.

Deputies also participated in the library’s Summer Reading Program reading to kids and various speaking engagements upon request.

Brandimarte also talked about the top 10 calls for service initiated by citizens. Those range from false burglar alarms to animal noise problems such as barking dogs. It also includes suspicious activity or people in the neighborhood and non-injury vehicle crashes.

There is also an element that reflects a concern for public safety in calls for welfare checks, attempt to locate or simple traffic hazards.

“The smaller issues are what affect quality of life and that’s important,” Penzone said. “There are different stressors in everyone’s world; we each have our own big problems.”

He stressed education and leading by example as ways deputies address traffic concerns.

Brandimarte expressed thanks to the town in helping to obtain a new electronic sign board that monitors speed and other driving habits with helping to collect information for traffic safety.

“The trailer allows us to collect data such as number of vehicles per hour, average speed, and identify problem times,” Brandimarte said. “This helps us target enforcement activities.”

He noted the screen can also be programmed for messages for events.

Crime still low

Brandimarte presented the information from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which reflects continued low criminal activity for Fountain Hills.

Property crime, which includes burglary, theft, auto theft and arson, is at 7.6 incidents per 1,000 population so far in 2017. That is based on a population number just over 25,000.

That number is through September and shows a slight reduction from 7.9 incidents for the entire year in 2016.

Violent crime incidents in Fountain Hills remain at less than one [.6] per 1,000 through September. That includes homicide, sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault.

Brandimarte said there are areas of concern in this report, sexual assault is at 5 and aggravated assault is 8. He said the sexual assault number is somewhat misleading because some of those incidents reflect age of consent issues.

He added that the aggravated assault incidents are reflective of domestic violence incidents.

“We work hard to get these numbers as close to ‘0’ as possible,” Brandimarte said. “But this is still one of the safest communities in Maricopa County.”

Penzone said he is working to develop a robust outreach to assist communities.

“Every community will have similarities,” he said. “I challenge communities to deal with stimulus, and we can help develop specific resources to address issues.

“I have directed captains in each district to become problem solvers, and be a resource for helping solve problems.”

Brandimarte also introduced new personnel working in Fountain Hills including Lt. Rich Johnson, Detective Sgt. Kristin Banks and School Resource Officer Michael Brooks.