Youngstown's crime spree justifies police crackdown

Summertime and the living is easy -- or it should be. But for many Youngstown residents, there is a correlation between the rise in the temperature and the rise in crime. Last weekend showed what's in store for the city unless an all-out, sustained campaign is conducted by the administration of Mayor Jay Williams to make the streets safe for law-abiding residents.
As a result of the shootings, fights and holdup that occurred Saturday and Sunday on the South Side and in the downtown area, police Chief Jimmy Hughes announced Monday that patrols will be intensified and mass arrests will be made to quell crowd violence. That's what we've been advocating for quite some time.
Indeed, two months ago we called for an aggressive approach to dealing with the challenges of living in a city that is losing population, has a shrinking tax base and has one of the highest per capita unemployment rates in the nation among Youngstowners in the under-20 age group. Our call was prompted by the murder in May of two 16-year-olds on the East Side. Adding to the community's shock and revulsion was the fact that a 16-year-old was accused by police of being the shooter.
Likewise, last weekend a 17-year-old boy was shot, four young women were beaten, two bullets pierced the front lobby window of Taco Bell at Market Street and Midlothian Boulevard and three individuals suffered gunshot wounds when a large crowd that had gathered in the Rite Aid lot across the street from the Red Room bar became violent. A 20-year-old Idora Avenue man who left the Red Room and walked to his car in the Rite Aid lot was shot in the left leg. An 18-year-old East Ravenwood man, also walking to his car at Rite Aid, was hit in the face area. A 17-year-old East Judson Avenue boy, also in the Rite Aid lot, was hit in his right hip.
And then there was the downtown incident, which is just as disturbing even though there was no bloodshed.
Armed robbery
According to a police report, five people reported they were robbed at gunpoint at 1:30 a.m. Saturday as they were walking on Hazel Street -- just blocks from the headquarters of the Youngstown Police Department. The five had stopped in a parking lot between Federal and Wood streets when a man approached them, pulled out a gun and demanded their wallets, purses and jewelry.
They were forced to lie face down on the ground.
But it wasn't just the hold-up that's cause for concern. Three of the five victims were from outside the Mahoning Valley -- and they've taken the downtown experience back to Copley, Berea and New Castle. There also was a resident of Girard and one from Youngstown.
Those five people will not soon forget what happened to them and will no doubt relate that experience to family and friends.
At a time when city government is working hard to persuade residents and nonresidents to take advantage of the many entertainment and cultural activities downtown, an armed robbery in which the victims were mostly out-of-towners is not good public relations -- especially when the violence occurs in the vicinity of the police station.
The Williams administration must not only respond to the current crime wave with a show of force, but must make sure that the criminals who are destroying the fabric of the community are taken off the streets for a long time.