SitemapAs Judge Carla Baldwin took the roll during the Community Initiative To Reduce Violence call-in at the municipal court recently, I made a mental note of all the names I knew.
After covering crime in Youngstown for 20 years, a lot of the names were familiar.
If the message they received stuck, then perhaps they would avoid, for now, appearing in the newspaper, whether it be in the news or in the obituaries.
That was the gist of the message I got as the only local reporter allowed to witness the call-in, where people who are considered at risk for the gang or criminal lifestyle are “invited” to attend.
It’s all part of the Community Initiative To Reduce Violence, which has seen about 400 people in the program since its inception.
CIRV is one of several ways the city looks to cut violent crime. The department is also participating in year two of the Community Based Crime Reduction patrol, part of a $2 million grant the city received with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and Youngstown State University. The program relies on police statistics to identify the area of the city with the highest crime rate.
Police used five years of call data to determine the hours with the most crimes on specific days of the week, then an extra two-officer car is assigned to that area for that block of time.
The high-crime area targeted by the grant is the South Side, specifically from Cottage Grove Avenue to Zedaker Street and East Florida Avenue to East Midlothian Boulevard. Statistics show most categories of crime in that neighborhood declined between 2017 and 2018.
RIDE ALONG
The sun had just gone down on the South Side but Lt. Ramon Cox did not forget the promise he kept.
Earlier, as part of a special detail patrolling the area of the city with the highest crime rate, Cox and Capt. Jason Simon had stopped at the Crim’s Corners plaza at South and East Indianola avenues and had spoken to several business owners there, to see how they were doing, what problems they were having and if they needed anything from the police.
Cox promised he would be back, and true to his word, a couple of hours later he drove through the parking lot, much to the delight of an older woman who came outside to smoke a cigarette. She was beaming as the cruiser went through the parking lot.
“I told you I was coming back,” Cox told her.
“God bless you,” she said.
MEASURING CRIME
Since the program started in April 2018, crime in the target area in categories such as murder, felonious assault, robberies, theft and motor vehicle thefts have declined from 2017 levels, as crime in the city declined overall.
Statistics provided by the police department show there were no murders in the target area in 2018 after there were two in 2017; felonious assaults declined 15.8 percent; robberies declined 20 percent; thefts declined 7.2 percent and motor-vehicle thefts declined 28.6 percent.
Arsons increased 50 percent in the target area, however, and burglaries increased 7.9 percent.
But besides crime, the grant also encompasses blight reduction and programs for kids to keep them occupied during the summer.
Tom Hettrick of the YNDC said YNDC knocked on about 1,300 doors and asked residents to fill out a survey on their views of the major problems in the neighborhood.
The criminal activities people were most concerned about were drug-selling, gunfire and people squatting in vacant houses, Hettrick said, while an overall concern was having activities, such as sports leagues, available for kids so they could have something to do to stay out of trouble.
“If you want to address crime, you have to attack it from different angles,” Hettrick said.
STILL WORK TO DO
Victoria Allen, head of the ICU Block Watch, said she likes the program overall, but she added there is still work to do on the crime-fighting end. She said gunfire and drug-selling in the area are still common. She said she would like to see more houses that draw a lot of police attention for drug sales shut down as nuisances.
Simon said there’s at least one house in the target area where that process is taking place now through the city’s law department.
Allen said the houses have to be closed for at least a year because just serving warrants and arresting people do nothing because they often just return. She said at one house in the area, a warrant was being served and customers kept showing up to buy drugs while the police were there.
“As soon as the cops drive away, they’re back,” Allen said. “They just move from one place to another.”
Allen said she does like the sports programs and other services and events for youth that took place last year, and plans are in the works for more this year.
Simon has been attending roll calls for all shifts asking officers to volunteer to coach teams in the youth sports leagues this summer. He said more events, such as last year’s South Side Summer Experience, are planned this year.
Allen said the summer experiences last year averaged about 100 people per event, and plans are underway not just for baseball or basketball but sports such as kickball, something that can appeal to kids of all ages and athletic ability.
“Not every kid’s Lebron James,” Allen said.
LIFE ON THE STREET
Cox and Simon are both veteran officers, and rolling through the streets, the topic comes up of previous calls, mostly homicides or drug raids, they had answered in the area. The amount is staggering. So are the numbers of empty lots and vacant houses.
“I’ve been at every house on one of these streets for something,” Cox said.
One of the things the CBRC patrol can do is show the flag. Because they are not tied down to answering calls, they can be visible throughout the target area, acting as a deterrent.
Simon and Cox check in with several business owners as they start their patrol in the late afternoon, asking them how things are going, what problems they are having and if there is anything the police can do. Simon hands out YPD temporary tattoos to kids at one of the stops, which are a big hit.
They talk to employees and patrons at a laundromat. The two also check two vacant houses on East Philadelphia and East Florida avenues that have been red tagged, or marked by the city as no- trespassing zones. There is no activity at either, although one side of the house on East Florida Avenue is pockmarked with bullet holes, and an abandoned pickup truck in the drive has holes in the driver’s side door and its back window has been shot out.
Simon also talks to a neighbor on the street who comes over to see what is going on. Hettrick said one of the most important things about the program is keeping in touch with residents so they can gauge what is working and what needs to be improved. Residents are also supplied with “Hot Spot Cards,” where they can report a crime or criminal activity anonymously.
“The residents are there 24/7,” Hettrick said.
LESSONS IN LIFE
Back at the municipal court, participants in the call-in program are given access to help for housing, employment, addiction and other issues to help get on their feet.
But there is also a stick wielded by law enforcement, including city police and the U.S. Attorneys office.
At the call-in, U.S. Attorney David Toepfer told them the last thing they want is their cases heard in the federal system, where sentences are longer. Toepfer said people with lengthy criminal records can get 15-year prison sentences just for having bullets or 20 years just for talking to someone about selling drugs. And with federal prisons so far away, he told the men their girlfriends and children will not be able to visit; instead, Toepfer told the men, another man will stay with the girlfriend and raise their children.
Police Chief Robin Lees asked the men to be aware of how their violence affects others, including their own families. He showed a picture of the young woman killed Jan. 24 and then a mother and her infant who were killed in a triple homicide in November. They were “collateral damage,” Lees said, because the gunmen were aiming for the boyfriend and father of her child.
“Why did these innocent people have to die?” Lees asked. “These two women and this baby died because they were hanging out with somebody like you.”
The person who made a huge impression was Amanda Lencyk, an emergency-room nurse at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and its injury prevention and outreach coordinator. She showed pictures of trauma bays covered in blood from gunshot wounds, bullet holes on the bodies of men who did not survive and the waiting rooms in the ER.
Those rooms, she said, were once filled with plants and paintings and other decorations. But no more. Grieving families destroyed them after being told the news that a loved one did not make it. She said family members beg to see or touch their loved one a last time, but they can’t, because they are now a coroner’s case and can’t be disturbed until an autopsy is completed. To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here.