Partnership places extra police patrols in hot spots

Fund shortage gave criminals opportunity to ‘run rampant,’ an official said.

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Producing a better quality of life for low-income Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority residents is the goal of a new partnership that puts extra police patrols in hot spots.

The enhanced security initiative was presented at a news conference Tuesday at YMHA offices on Boardman Street by Clifford Scott, YMHA executive director. He said YMHA has partnered with Youngstown and Campbell police.

In Youngstown, the target housing developments are Westlake Terrace Homes, Rockford Village, Victory Estates and Brier Hill Annex. In Campbell, police will focus on the Michael J. Kirwan Homes.

Campbell Police Chief Gus Sarigianopoulos said his officers patrol Kirwan homes daily but the new funding will mean extra patrols and produce a better quality of life. He acknowledged that Kirwan Homes has had its problems with drug activity, adding many arrests have been made with the assistance of the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service.

Scott said $155,000 was reallocated from local YMHA funding to pay for the extra patrols for one year.

Scott said the effort to keep a police presence on YMHA properties isn’t an “end-all” crime prevention process, just a first step.

Enforcing trespassing ordinances is a “nice tool” to weed out undesirables from YMHA properties, said Youngstown Detective Sgt. Kevin Mercer, head of the Street Crimes Unit that includes patrols of Northside Weed and Seed neighborhoods. Weed and Seed, a federally funded crime prevention program, is located at Westlake on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Mercer said trespassing citations, for example, have been effective in ridding the Griffith Street area, a section of Westlake, of prostitutes and drug sales. He is also in charge of YMHA patrols.

Mercer’s hot line can be reached at (330) 744-8989. For Richard Oliver, YMHA public safety officer, call (330) 744-1112.

Residents are encouraged to call the hot lines with information they have concerning criminal activity at any YMHA property.

Youngstown Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said the extra patrols will be a combination of regular and overtime shifts. Officers will walk through YMHA properties, get to know the residents, question nonresidents and check the cars going in and out. He said officers walking through the housing developments will act as a deterrent to drug sales and other criminal activity.