Snatching items from transit passengers is still the most common crime on the rail and bus system, but the numbers have recently declined. In the first quarter of the year, there were 144 snatch or pickpocket crimes. In that same period in 2012 there were 239 incidents.
After intensive enforcement on the rail system (and an education campaign asking transit riders to avoid openly displaying smartphones or expensive tablets), some thieves appear to be changing their tactics.
Metro's new chief of police, Ronald Pavlik, to the board that oversees the transit agency, "Some of the tactics that we [have seen] in the rail system with criminals is now morphing over to the bus side, where the victims are usually getting on or off a bus..." The snatching thieves then run away into nearby streets or alleys, and it becomes, says Pavlik, "very challenging to try to find them."
The Metro Transit Police chief said he wishes every smart phone had the app that allows a user on the internet to locate where the phone is. Several phone thefts have been solved that way, he told the board. Metro's website is encouraging the transit system's customers to install that app on their plastic card.
Metro statistics show a sharp decline in motor vehicle thefts in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year and the year before. In the first three months of 2013, there were only nine car theft reports on Metro property. In a similar period in 2012, there were 20. And a year before that there were 38.
Sometimes Metro employees (like mechanics) suffer slight injuries on the job. Nowadays, those employees are assigned "light duty." They're told to patrol Metro garages and parking lots looking for suspicious behavior around the customers' cars. If they see it, they call Metro transit police. "And that's having a big success on certain parking lots where they're deployed every day," Chief Pavlik told the board.
Kudumbasree has come up with another novel idea that might address not only the immediate safety concerns of women but also larger issues such as economic independence and gender equality. The self-help group is launching women-driven taxis with customised features for women.
The new venture is expected to cater women who are required to travel outside regular hours, often alone, by nature of jobs. The project will be piloted in the capital, and extended to other towns later depending on its success.
Kudumbasree will buy Nano cars, with customised features to ensure the safety of the women driver, for the venture. The service will be available round the clock, with a focus on Technopark, bus and railway stations. "To begin with, we are planning to acquire 20 taxis, which will even have a unique colour and the emblem of the SHG for easier identification," Kudumbasree executive director K B Valsalakumari said.
The taxis will have geographic positioning system to enable tracking of its location from a central unit, an electronic billing system and a partition between the front and rear seats to ensure the driver's safety.
Among the 20 or so items on the agenda will be a continuation of the discussion on issues that have plagued downtown Prescott for years - proper signage, use of the parking garage, and pedestrian safety.
Councilman Chris Kuknyo, who along with Councilman Charlie Arnold, brought the issues up during an informal council caucus meeting in April, said he plans to recap and distill that lengthy discussion on Tuesday.
While the caucus touched on a volume of issues, Kuknyo said this week's discussion would be about identifying solutions. "I've tried to gather up what kind of actions there are to move forward," Kuknyo said Friday.
For instance, he said, the discussion likely would touch on: working with the private sector on development of a pass-through walkway between the Granite Street parking garage and Whiskey Row; sending a letter to federal representatives about retaining the downtown post office; installing larger, more effective signs directing drivers to the parking garage; and dealing with pedestrian safety issues created by delivery trucks that park near downtown crosswalks.
Consider two agreements relating to the proposed annexation of about 500 acres of Deep Well Ranch land northeast of Prescott.
A city memo explains that a 2009 pre-annexation agreement laid the groundwork for future annexation into the city limits of 1,900 acres of Deep Well Ranch property located west of the airport and north of Pioneer Parkway.
This week, the council will consider an amendment to that original agreement that would deal with 499 acres of land east of Highway 89, part of which is targeted for the Yavapai Regional Medical Center's north campus.
McConnell said the 499 acres includes the 180-acre parcel for which the Deep Well Ranch and YRMC have entered into an agreement for the new campus.
Along with the development agreement amendment, the council also will consider a related pre-development agreement with Yavapai Community Hospital Association, which would deal with rezoning and development of the prospective YRMC parcel after its annexation.
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