Youngstown shares $5.8 million grant to fight violence

YOUNGSTOWN — The city is one of eight local jurisdictions and state and federal agencies to share in a $5.8 million U.S. Justice Department grant to combat gun violence.

Mayor Jay Williams joined Gregory A. White, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann Friday in announcing receipt of the federal Byrne grant.

White said the grant will be used to target hot spots of gun violence with dedicated patrols.

In 2006, the communities participating in the grant saw 240 homicides, a 12 percent increase from the previous year, he said.

“We have younger people committing more violent acts,” he said.

The grant will fund overtime and saturated patrols in the participating cities as well as fund development and operation of the Ohio Gun Crime Center to aid local police agencies.

Besides the U.S. Justice Department, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and Youngstown, the grant also includes Cleveland, Lorain, Akron, Canton, Elyria, Mansfield and Toledo police departments, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Marshal’s Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ohio Department of Public Safety, Ohio Criminal Justice Services, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program and Cuyahogal County Department of Justice Affairs.

Together, they form the Northern Ohio Violent Crime Consortium.

Youngstown’s portion of the grant is $227,569. Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said it will fund overtime, saturated patrols and follow-up investigations similar to the department’s zero tolerance program earlier this year.

For more, see Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com