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Police Commissioner Theodore Brooks asked Chief James Lewis what he’s doing to address the problem of “young black men on a rampage.”
The chief’s answer: serving warrants.
The exchange came at the monthly meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners, at police headquarters on Monday night.
Commissioner Brooks (pictured) brought up the recent spate of homicides in the last several months.
“Seven or eight young black men were killed recently,” Brooks said. None of the murders have been solved, he added.
“We have young black men on a rampage, frankly,” Brooks said. Residents aren’t talking to police or coming forward with information, he said. He asked Chief Lewis what’s being done to highlight that problem.
Lewis said that there were 12 homicides in 2009, including a “slight blip at the end of the year” when murders increased.
He acknowledged the lack of witnesses coming forward. To address that, the department created an “overlay” of an area in Newhallville where most of the recent shootings have occurred. With the FBI, the police looked up all the active warrants connected to residences in that area. Then on Tuesday morning “43 detectives hit dozens and dozens of places,” Lewis said.
On Wednesday afternoon, police spokesman Officer Joe Avery released statistics about the operation. He said that detectives visited over 100 addresses during the roundup. They served 15 arrest warrants and took nine people into custody. Members of the narcotics unit also located two people holding drugs.
In addition to taking wanted suspects off the streets, the operation gave officers an opportunity to speak with residents, to hand out business cards, and let neighbors know that they are looking to solve the murders, Lewis said.
Street shootings often have very little physical evidence and homicides can sometimes take years to solve, Lewis said. He said he was looking over a 20-year-old case earlier that day.
Lewis said that it’s important to address the matter of felon re-entry. He said eight members of the police department staff met with Newhallville community members recently to discuss that issue.
There’s been a 44 percent increase in the number of felons arrested with guns, Lewis said. Of those arrested with guns, 91 percent had previous arrests.
That makes felons a “target group,” Lewis said.
The police department seized 299 firearms in 2009, the most in its history, Lewis said.