(09:00) Watsonville – The Watsonville Police Department announced that there was a decrease in crime rates in 2016 compared to 2015. There were no homicides and robberies were reduced by 55.8%. When compared to 2015, the overall crime rates were down 11.3%. The Watsonville Police Department credits the dip in crime to an increased effort in prevention and intervention, hiring more police officers, building relationships and trust with the community, providing more training to officers, using social media to help solve crimes, and replacing aging and faulty equipment. All of these changes were made possible by the Watsonville community approving Measure G, which added a temporary sales tax of .5% for seven years in order to increase funding for fire and law enforcement services.
