Community police focus on housing issues

January 2, 2016 at 4:56p.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The first six months of the city’s Community Police Unit have been focused on housing issues.

The unit, formed by police Chief Robin Lees, has an officer assigned to each of the city’s seven wards. The officer works with that ward’s council member and other members of the community on specific issues.

The idea is to have those officers deal with certain calls for which people often call 911 — thus freeing up officers on patrol to take other calls.

Statistics provided show that from July through November, the unit has referred 93 properties to the city’s housing department for code enforcement violations. Statistics for December are not yet available.

But members are also making arrests, as they have made 42 felony and 47 misdemeanor arrests in the same time period, thanks mostly to weekly crime sweeps of specific neighborhoods with members of the vice squad. On two of those sweeps, on Delaware Avenue and Halls Heights, members of the housing department also accompanied the police.