Cedar Hill: Safest City in Best Southwest

Cedar Hill: Safest City in Best Southwest

as reported by Rita Cook, Focus Daily News

At the recent Cedar Hill City Council meeting, Police Chief Steve Rhodes and his executive team gave a review of the department over the past year. Their data showed a 16.2 percent decrease in the Crime Index Rate over the last five years, and a 97 percent overall customer approval rating for police services, based on customer service surveys. There were no specifics on who completed these surveys overall, but the presentation indicated, according to Cedar Hill Public Information Officer Corky Brown, that these results “were achieved with no increase in sworn staff over the five-year period.”

The presentation also indicated that in 2014 burglaries dropped 9.4 percent in the city and that property crime was down 5.5 percent. Brown indicated that “A lot of that improvement is due to the PACT officers [who] work closely with neighborhoods and neighbors to establish trusted communication and commitment to the community.”

Police department presentations overall indicated that, according to Assistant Chief Rodney Thompson crime reduction in Cedar Hill make it one of the safest cities in Dallas County. Newly appointed Assistant Chief Steve Lafferty spoke on the department’s high rate of solving crimes, and Lieutenant Colin Chenault talked about and gave samples of the department’s rapidly growing social media efforts.

A video shared via the Cedar Hill Police Department’s Facebook page went viral recently and showed up on Good Morning America:   http://tinyurl.com/nk628ro.