City reignites a VIP program

Don’t mess with success. That winning philosophy has been embraced by the Youngstown Police Department and a wide array of supporting agencies to reignite a successful crackdown on gang-related violence in the city.

Specifically, the Violence Interruption Patrols program has a proven track record of reducing the number of guns on the streets, apprehending would-be gangbangers and transforming mean streets into safe streets for the vast majority of law-abiding Youngstown residents.

Police Chief Robin Lees announced late last week that the VIP program officially has revved up its 2014 summer season. The program floods high-crime neighborhoods with extra officers and gathers intelligence about likely gang violence as a means to quash it.

To say that the program has succeeded is an understatement. Violent crime has shown marked decreases in Youngstown in the past two years of VIP’s presence. Its success last year in confiscating 62 guns, for example, translates into at least 62 fewer opportunities for potentially fatal firearms offenses.

VIP owes a great deal of its success to the cooperation of a multitude of agencies, including the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Adult Parole Authority, U.S. Marshals and the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence.

We’re confident such cooperation toward a mutually productive goal will make VIP a Very Important Program for the safety of Youngstown and the security of its residents and visitors once again this year.