V-GRIP drives down killings, violence in Youngstown/Warren area

WARREN

Homicides and gun violence were down in Youngstown and Warren this summer, and officials involved in the V-GRIP law enforcement initiative said Thursday they think V-GRIP was the reason.

Over the past 10 weeks, the Violence, Gun Reduction Interdiction Program took 150 guns off Mahoning and Trumbull county streets and resulted in 15 federal indictments and 600 arrests, Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said from the steps of Warren City Hall.

About half of those arrests, a third of the federal indictments and one-fourth of the guns came out of Warren.

The effort was intended to continue only through early September, but the relationships established between the participating local, state and federal agencies are enabling those agencies to continue to work effectively together, Warren Police Chief Tim Bowers said.

Read the full story in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.