YPD seizes 77 more guns in ‘16 as compared to previous year

January 24, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

For the second straight year, the number of firearms taken by city police increased in 2016. If the numbers stay the same as they have for the beginning of 2017, that trend will continue for a third year.

Statistics provided by the police department show that members of the patrol and detective divisions seized 175 firearms in 2016 and members of the vice squad seized 93, for a total of 268. In 2015, 191 guns were taken, with 56 of those seized by the vice squad.

The department took 155 guns in 2014. Vice squad statistics for that year are not available, but they are included in the total.

The upward trend is continuing so far in 2017, with the department’s “B Turn,” or afternoon shift, paving the way with more than 15 weapons seized so far this year just on that shift alone, including a rifle.

Police Chief Robin Lees said not all weapons taken by patrol officers and detectives were used in a crime, but he acknowledged that the increase is a significant one. Lees said that is one of the reasons why the department’s homicide rate dropped 22 percent in 2016, with 18, as compared with 23 in 2015.

“With each gun we take off the street, we’re probably avoiding a shooting or a homicide,” Lees said.

Over this past weekend, police took five guns during arrests after traffic stops and found a sixth weapon during a burglary call. For the year so far, vice squad officers have seized eight guns during traffic stops or while serving search warrants investigating drug activity.

One thing helping officers is information compiled by the department’s crime statistics department. Each week, reports of gunshot-sensor activations and 911 calls for gunfire as well as citizens’ complaints regarding gunfire are broken down into areas and then shared with patrol officers, said Lt. Brian Welsh, supervisor for the department’s afternoon shift. Welsh said the data allow him to inform officers where gunfire calls are on their beats so they can concentrate on patrolling those areas when they are not answering calls. Being where the gunfire is increases their chance of seizing weapons, Welsh said.

Welsh said the officers on the road are doing fantastic work.

“I just point them in the right direction,” Welsh said. “These guys are doing their job. They’re kicking butt. It’s [data] really working. They [officers] deserve the credit.”

Welsh said the call volume on B Turn is the busiest for the department, which means that the officers are able to answer calls and still be able to concentrate on areas on their beats.

“For as busy as the guys are on B Turn, they’re still able to go out and do this,” Welsh said.

Lees said a big factor in getting guns off the streets is an influx of several new hires in the patrol division over the past several years. He said the new officers, like most people beginning a new job, are very enthusiastic, and that often translates into results when they are on the road.

Lees also said officers are given specialized training in recognizing if someone has a gun when they go on a call. He said he did not want to describe what some of those indicators are. He said the officers also are able to do the work professionally; so far this year, the department has not received a complaint for any of its weapons arrests.

“It means a lot because this is being done professionally and with courtesy,” Lees said.