Youngstown eyes big-city crime-fighting plan
YOUNGSTOWN — Any efforts to combat violent crime in this city would do well to follow an innovative approach that has more than cut in half the homicide rates in other cities.
That was the core message Dr. David M. Kennedy stressed during Friday’s Operation Cease Fire session at Oakhill Renaissance Place on Oak Hill Avenue.
Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, outlined a program he helped launch about 15 years ago in Boston. Since then, the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence idea has been implemented in Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and other major cities — all of which have seen their homicide rates fall, he said.
About 70 law enforcement personnel, neighborhood leaders and others attended the two-hour seminar to learn about the CIRV.
For details, read Satuday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.