Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas told residents Tuesday despite the sense among many crime is increasing in the city, the crime rate has been decreasing.

“Kent is a good place to live,” Thomas said. “It is a safe place.”

Kent Police and residents gathered Tuesday evening at the Kent Phoenix Academy gymnasium for the first of several scheduled quarterly community meetings.

A large gathering of residents came to hear Thomas and other department officers discuss gang activity, the community policing strategy, answer questions and provide insights into the daily work of officers.

Thomas began the meeting asking residents to not be hesitant to call 911. The chief said the police need the help of the public. He noted if someone sees suspicious activity to call 911 and an officer will respond.

Thomas and the officers went over the process the department uses to gather information on crime form the different sectors of the city.

Each officer in charge of the sectors spoke giving a demonstration of the information exchanged and how the department makes decisions where to move resources.

Thomas summed up the process as intelligence-led policing with hot-spot policing and tracking high-impact offenders.

Many of the questions from the residents centered on gang activity.

Thomas pointed to the South King County Violent Gang Initiative, which is a gathering of police agencies in the region he has pulled together to combat the increase in gang problems.

The chief said there is a three-prong approach being used that includes enforcement, intervention and prevention or keeping kids out of gangs.

“Right now when we talk about the South King County Violent Gang Initiative we are talking about suppression, that’s enforcement,” Thomas said. “The other two prongs… cannot be effective unless we get the worst of the worst, the most violent, off the street and put in jail. Unfortunately, there are some out there who have crossed the line too far and there is really not much we can do to help them.”

Thomas also said suppression alone would not work and the city will need intervention and prevention programs.

The chief said the intervention and prevention programs will not be effective unless police can “get those people who are preying on our kids and causing problems.”

Thomas said gangs members in the area are of every ethnicity and every race, but “Hispanic (gangs) are the most prominent.”

Some residents were able to talk to the officers about problems in their neighborhoods. The department also was able to provide crime prevention tips for neighborhoods.

Thomas said the plan is to schedule meetings quarterly in different parts of the city.