By DAVID SKOLNICK
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
The news of a major crime crackdown in Youngstown and surrounding areas was both welcomed and greeted with some reservations by city residents.
“It’s all good, but they need to go to the root of the problem: better education for kids,” said Tom Watson of Brentwood Avenue. “They feel there’s no way out” of poverty and turn to crime.
Watson, who’s lived in Youngstown for about 35 years, said: “There needs to be a focus on crime, most definitely. A lot of young kids commit crimes. They don’t have anything else to do.”
Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies announced Thursday that they were teaming up to crack down on gun crimes in not only Youngstown, but throughout the Mahoning Valley.
Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams said the city is doing all it can to keep kids occupied such the North Side Pool and its summer recreation program. Also, he said, getting guns off the street will make the city safer.
The crime crackdown announcement was made at the Fosterville Playground at West Indianola and Glenwood avenues. That area of the city’s South Side has been the location of violent crimes over the years.
Officials from various agencies announced the program that they say has some similarities to the Violence, Gun Reduction Interdiction Program held between late June and early September 2003 that resulted in the arrest of nearly 400.
During that time, there was only one homicide in Youngstown, a figure considerably lower than average, and the city ended up with its lowest number of homicides for a single year in about a decade.
Shaunda Barcley of Winona Drive in Youngstown said crime is out of control in the city, and something needs to be done to keep it in check.
“We need to save the streets and help the kids,” Barcley said. “I’ve lived here all my life, and crime is getting worse.”
Dorina Shine of Ferndale Avenue in Youngstown is thrilled by the return of V-GRIP.
“This is what we’ve been asking for,” she said. “This is what our community needs. Hopefully, we’ll see a decrease in crime.”
The program has been in the discussion stages for a while.
Steven Dettelbach, U.S. attorney for Ohio’s Northern District, told The Vindicator on April 27 that he wanted federal and state agents in Youngstown this summer fighting crime, and was discussing the plan with law enforcement.
Standing with law enforcement, officials with various Mahoning Valley communities, pastors and community activists, Dettelbach said Thursday that the group is sending “a clear message to those people who would use guns to terrorize us in our own community. That message is we’re standing together, we are not afraid and we will not sit idly by and let this continue.”
The 2003 V-GRIP program largely focused on an increased law enforcement presence in Youngstown.
The new program also includes Austintown, Boardman, Campbell, Struthers and Warren.
Also, Dettelbach said law enforcement officials will use technology to target specific crime hot spots as well as work together to identify “the worst of the worst” — the most dangerous repeat offenders with an emphasis on reducing gun violence.
The new program, he said, also includes:
• Training 150 officers in the past month about safeguarding suspects’ rights while searching for guns and other contraband.
“We want to make sure these arrests will stick,” Dettelbach said.
• Work together to conduct long-term investigations of criminals and gangs.
• Review every case to see where is the best court to prosecute.
V-GRIP has already started. Those involved in the program wouldn’t say Thursday when the program would end.