Mayor and police chief head to crime summit

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 The Los Angeles police chief and a Harvard criminologist are among the speakers. By DENISE DICK VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER YOUNGSTOWN — Mayor Jay Williams and Police Chief Jimmy Hughes are joining with counterparts from across the country in a summit on violent crime. The Police Executive Research Forum's National Violent Crime Summit begins tonight at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., and runs through Wednesday. "There's been an uptick in violent crime across the country," Williams said earlier this month. Wrangled invitation He said he read a newspaper article about the summit and contacted officials involved to try to get the city included in the list of participants and was invited to attend. "It's by invitation only," the mayor said. According to its Web site, the Police Executive Research Forum is a national membership organization of "progressive police executives from the largest city, county and state law enforcement agencies." This week's summit is part of the "2006 Critical Issues in Policing Series: National Violent Crime Summit." Speakers include William Bratton, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, who also is president of PERF; R.T. Rybak, mayor of Minneapolis; and Paul J. McNulty, deputy U.S. attorney general. Dr. Anthony Braga of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University will present "A Criminologist's Perspective on the Rising Violent Crime Rate." Other topics to be addressed include "Promising Approaches and Strategies for Reducing Violent Crime." Homicides so far The city has seen 20 homicides so far this year. Last year, the city logged 34 homicides with 24 reported by Aug. 24, 2005. This year's most recent murder victim was Mark A. Floyd, 28, of West Philadelphia Avenue, who was shot early Sunday at his apartment.