Sherman R. Frederick
Novato Advance
At the State of the City presentation hosted by the Chamber of Commerce last week, Novato City Manager Adam McGill revealed the crime statistics for the city.
There were 36,219 calls for service to the police department in 2022. That’s an increase of about 5,000 calls.
There has not been a homicide in Novato in four years.
But the last homicide was horrific and it left a scar on the psyche of the town. In 2018 in the woods near Novato High School, a student was shot and left for ead and another was slashed and decapitated with a machete. Police said it was gang-related violence. People were told to shelter in place and schools were closed as police searched for the killers.
There were 17 robberies in 2022, seven more than last year, but lower than most years since 2018.
In other revealed facts, there were 91 assaults reported in 2022; 62 commercial burglaries, 10 residential burglaries, and 108 auto burglaries. There were 1,086 people arrested by the Novato police in 2022. None of the categories stood out as being over the historical norm.
For the year, priority 911 calls were responded to in just over four and a half minutes.
McGill, (who was Novato’s police chief before being elevated to city manager, squared up on social media sites who he said are constantly complaining and highlighting crime in Novato.
“Facts are stubborn things,” no matter what you might read on “NextDoor” or “Novato In The Know,” he said, “Crime is not rampant. We live in one of the safest places in California.” Also, less than 2% of all arrests in 2022 resulted in any kind of use of force by police officers.
McGill touched on housing, the city’s deficit budget and the issue of homelessness in his talk to business leaders.
In the Q&A, McGill was asked about Wilson Square shopping center and closed buildings in the downtown area. McGill said there’s nothing planned for Wilson Square for which the city is aware and the downtown buildings have individual code issues that must be addressed.
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