Overall crime rates in Sanford have dropped about 14 percent compared to 2016, but homicide numbers are the highest they have been since 2008, officials said.
Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith said the overall drop in crime has been a result of working with the community and being as transparent as possible.
The department has also been going to social media more to ask the public for tips, Smith said.
“As of today, we put some information out there, the community has responded to the information and has provided us with direction to go on to look for the individuals,” he said.
Two of Sanford’s eight homicide cases this year involve Alan Cashe, who is accused of killing Latina Herring and her 8-year-old son during a March domestic dispute.
While investigations into most of the 2017 homicides have been completed, there is still work to do on a couple, Smith said.
“Two of them have not been solved at this time,” he said. “But we have collected information based on those last two, so hopefully we will be able to bring those to fruition.”
In the meantime, Smith said his department continues to have a close relationship with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, which has assigned additional deputies to cover Sanford.
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