FORT MYERS, Fla. — All week Fox 4 has been reporting about some Fort Myers business owners' perception, there is growing violent downtown crime, versus police saying that's not happening and there are no plans for changes.
It's now been four days since that shooting outside Celsius nightclub.
“There is not a spike in crime,” said Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson.
Mayor Anderson echoed the Fort Myers Police Department (FMPD).
Telling Fox 4 on Thursday that FMPD's response to calls for help early Monday morning, around 2 am, was, in his view, properly handled.
At that time the mayor says Fort Myers police typically have half as many officers working as they do on Saturday night when downtown is much busier.
“We have a professional police department who staffs according to what the needs, projected needs are and occasionally you are going to have those “one-offs” where on a night when it's typically expected to be quite something does happen,” said Anderson.
That’s the reason Mayor Anderson said he believes the shooting is an isolated incident and one that does not demand any immediate changes.
“So when you have a “one-off” you can't have a knee-jerk reaction. You don’t ignore it, nobody is saying ignore it, but like I said you can't just overreact,” he said.
Mayor Anderson told Fox 4that both the city manager and Fort Myers police chief have spoken with Celsius nightclub and said they are working to make sure this doesn't happen again.
