Chief focusing on crime by the numbers

In the last 2 months I have been impressed with Chief Burn's work ethics and knowledge, She is really turning this department around, the morale of the police department has improved. I am sure the burglaries, drugs and other crimes will go down in the near future. Joe

Burns: Barstow property theft numbers higher than in L.A. By AARON AUPPERLEE, staff writer

BARSTOW — A neat stack of papers almost a foot high sits on the right-hand corner of her desk. She is turned the other way, squinting at a computer screen scanning the latest crime numbers from Barstow. “I’m trying to get substantive crime stats by the week, by the day, and by the month,” she said. She spins around away from her computer and turns to a foot-high stack of papers on the corner of her desk. “And I read everything,” she says, slapping her hand down on the stack of police reports, arrest reports and briefing logs. “I don’t think I can really effectively supervise the department absent knowing what’s going on in this city.” Barstow Police Chief Dianne Burns has been supervising the department for nearly 60 days. Approved unanimously by the City Council in June, many hoped Burns would bring her expertise in gangs garnered during her work with a specialized gang unit in the Los Angeles Police Department to Barstow. She has, sending officers to gang-specific training and resurrecting a street impact team to deal with gang and narcotic issues, but since Burns’ first day on the job in July, she’s taken shots at a different problem. (read more)