ZERO TOLERANCE YPD wins achievement honor for gun project

The chief said the word got out that police are serious about enforcement.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police Chief Robert E. Bush Jr. will be in Kansas City, Mo., next week to accept an achievement award for last summer's Gun Reduction Interdiction Project.
"This is national acknowledgment from Attorney General John Ashcroft, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland and our law enforcement peers," Bush said Wednesday. "The category, 'outstanding comprehensive plan,' shows we didn't shoot from the hip. We focused our efforts, identified the [target] areas, hours of the day and hot spots of activity."
Bush said GRIP concentrated on the McGuffey Road-Stiles Avenue area, Rockford Village, lower Elm Street and sections of the South Side designated as Weed and Seed neighborhoods.
"We had goals and objectives -- to get guns off the streets -- zero tolerance," the chief said. "The word got out that we're serious about enforcement."
GRIP, a multiagency effort, included the U.S. Marshals Service, bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Ohio Adult Parole Authority and Mahoning County Sheriff's Department.
Next week's award is coming from Project Safe Neighborhoods, a comprehensive strategy sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice. PSN links federal, state and local agencies to combat gun violence.
Speakers at the awards ceremony next week include James B. Comey, deputy attorney general. The conference runs Tuesday through Thursday with a wide variety of workshops.
Bush said Detective Sgt. Patrick Kelly, commander of the Street Crimes Unit, will accompany him to Kansas City.
Project's results
Last summer, GRIP resulted in 369 arrests and one homicide during the three-month period. In summers past, the city typically recorded an average of seven homicides during the same period.
Law enforcement especially wanted to arrest felons in possession of a firearm, which would then qualify them for federal prosecution.
In 2003, 55 firearm offenders from Youngstown were prosecuted at the federal level, an increase of 290 percent from 2002, the justice department said.
Bush said his department will continue its zero-tolerance approach this summer in an effort to reduce violent crime.
The chief said he expects a number of drug and gun felons to be paroled from state prisons in the coming months and wants to be prepared. He is encouraging anyone with knowledge of a felon violating the conditions of parole to give his department or the Adult Parole Authority a call.