To some, it’s common knowledge that city crime regularly increases when summer arrives. To others, the supposed connection between weather and crime is nonsense. Either way, after the killing of four people in a South Linden house earlier this month, the city is taking no chances in the first days of summer.
On Monday, Mayor Michael Coleman’s office announced that Coleman has asked Columbus Division of Police to reassign officers to Linden and increase the police presence and summer safety efforts there. In addition to a larger police presence in specific neighborhoods, this year’s summer safety initiative will involve more engagement with residents as well as working with the APPS program to prevent violence.
Coleman asked for residents to cooperate with police efforts whenever possible.
“We cannot and will not tolerate increased violence in our city,” said Coleman in a press release. “I am calling on the public to help assist our police officers in identifying offenders and reporting criminal activity so that we may effectively protect our neighborhoods and keep them safe.”
This is not the first time CPD has conducted a summer safety initiative. According to The Columbus Dispatch, police officials said last year’s summer efforts were effective in reducing overall violent crime, boosting arrests and leading to the confiscation of more illegal firearms.
In his statement Monday, Coleman also called on the state legislature to enact stronger gun control laws to deny criminals access to firearms. Coleman said adopting “common sense gun laws” in the Statehouse would reduce some of the violence in city neighborhoods.
Gun control took center stage this weekend at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco, which Coleman attended. The shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina last week in which nine people were killed placed even more emphasis on gun laws at the conference, but many of the attending mayors were pessimistic about whether the shooting will lead to change in the state legislatures.
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