Youngstown police will saturate the South Side

Youngstown police will saturate the South Side

YOUNGSTOWN

In response to five murders and a shooting in the last few weeks, Youngstown police will step up enforcement and be joined by other law enforcement agencies in saturation patrols on the city’s South Side, the chief said.

Police Chief Rod Foley said today that the increased patrols would be for the next two to three weeks with a focus on getting guns off the street.

“This is a short-term fix,” he said. “We need to stress [long-term] that having guns on the street won’t be tolerated.”

Foley and other city officials are also working on a long-term solution to violent crime.

That includes Operation Ceasefire, a program that identifies the city’s most-frequent criminal offenders, and provide intervention and alternatives to avoid them from committing crimes. If the people identified continue to commit crimes, they’ll be arrested and prosecuted, city officials say.

For the complete story, read Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com