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Stockton Mayor: Community Needs To Do More To Fight City's High Crime Rate

STOCKTON (CBS13) — Stockton's mayor is calling on the community to do something about the city's high crime rate.

Anthony Silva posted his concerns on his Facebook page before the city's latest murder. He says the answer is more responsible and respectful residents.

"We practice community policing and law enforcement does what it can," said Stockton resident Evette Franco. "It definitely has a lot of work to do."

One of the suggestions was for people to have concealed carry permits while other say the police don't put in enough work arresting violent offenders.

"They're just looking for the wrong things, shouldn't worry about minor traffic stuff and stuff like that," said Albert Hernandez.

Stockton Police say their clearance rate for solving violent crime cases is the national average, which FBI statistics back up.

"They're doing an excellent job. I have nothing bad to say about the police," said former City Councilman and community advocate Ralph White.

He includes the decision to increase reward amounts as an example of how Chief Eric Jones has improved police work.

"Pay $10,000 and someone is going to tell you something. For $1,000, ain't nobody going to tell you anything," he said. "But for $10,000? Oh they'll tell on their momma for $10,000."

He and others say the community sometimes unfairly focuses on youth as the problem, and the community as a whole needs to clean up Stockton to improve the quality of life.

"What do we have to do here for older people?" he said. "The park? There are no nightclubs or outings like other cities. It's almost like a dead city, a bedroom neighborhood."

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