COLUMBUS – As police investigate homicides in Linden and City Council ponders firearm restrictions, the city plans to marshal forces that include counselors and city workers who will track down burned out streetlights and other physical deterrents to crime
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
The city will test the plan in precincts 2 and 5 in Linden starting May 1. When Columbus police are investigating a homicide, the division will notify Columbus Public Health and hold a conference call to discuss some details of the case.
That will allow Public Health to send out counselors to talk to the families of victims, set up pop-up centers to offer counseling for others in the neighborhood and work with other city departments that can help identify potential gang retaliations and fix physical features that might have contributed to the crime.
All of that would happen with 48 hours of the conference call, said Dr. Mysheika Roberts, Columbus health commissioner and medical director.
“What we implement here, we will eventually be able to scale to other neighborhoods,” Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said at a press conference Tuesday to update the public on a plan he announced last year to curb violence across the city.
Ginther rolled out his “Comprehensive Neighborhood Safety Strategy” as the city was on its way to setting a record with 143 homicides in 2017. The plan included forming new groups to study violent crime and police practices, hiring more police officers and expanding bike patrols in high-crime neighborhoods.
The city also is expanding a program through its Department of Recreation and Parks it started last year to offer job training and placement to young people with misdemeanors that could hurt their chances of landing a job.
“We’ve got a long way to go, but there’s good progress,” Ginther said after the press conference. “I also think we are building something that’s sustainable.”
Ginther also called on the police and fire divisions to double diversity in their ranks in the next 10 years. Both divisions are finalizing plans to accomplish that. Police Chief Kim Jacobs said she has completely reformed the division’s recruiting unit already.
That unit is focusing on getting more people to do police ride alongs so potential recruits and other community members can learn more about the job, Jacobs said. So far, they have scheduled 123 ride alongs.
New gun legislation
Meanwhile, the public will have its say on gun-regulation proposals that Columbus city officials rolled out in late March.
The Columbus City Council will have a public hearing at 5 p.m. Thursday in City Hall to discuss the proposals. The hearing will include presentations on the proposals and a public-comment period.
READ MORE: In the Dispatch
“This is not an effort to take away guns from law-abiding citizens,” City Attorney Zach Klein said. “This is an effort to get the guns out of the hands of individuals who have violent criminal histories.”
Klein, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and City Council President Shannon G. Hardin introduced 11 changes designed to curb gun violence, including bans on selling imitation guns to minors, changing zoning codes so the city can shut down businesses that attract violence, and prohibiting gun sales in residential areas.
“These measures are our best shot at working to keep Columbus safe with the tools that we have,” Hardin said.
The city is pushing its proposals as a national debate about gun control is intensifying amid mass shootings across the country, and as Gov. John Kasich tries to get his own gun-policy recommendations through the state legislature.
At the same time, the state House is considering a gun bill that would block Columbus and other Ohio cities from passing ordinances aimed at regulating guns. That bill would expand the list of firearms regulations that only the state may enact, limiting the proposals that the city is considering. Klein has said Columbus will sue the state for infringing on its home-rule powers if the bill becomes law.