Fresno reached a record-low homicide rate in 2025. Just 22 murders were reported in the city of more than 500,000 people, which is a number not seen since the 1970s. So what’s working? On today’s episode, Fresno City Police Chief Mindy Casto breaks down some of the department’s newest strategies and weighs in on how the police have handled the city’s “no camping” ordinance.
A Valley native, Elizabeth earned her bachelor's degree in English Language Literatures from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her master's degree in journalism from New York University. She has covered a range of beats. Her agriculture reporting for the Turlock Journal earned her a first place award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
Jonathan Linden is a podcast producer at KVPR. Born and raised in Riverside, he's a Southern California native. Jonathan's passion for public radio began at a young age when his brother would play NPR while driving him home from middle school. He earned his B.A. in journalism from Biola University in 2019.
