Akron officials provide updates to crime statistics and prevention programs

Akron officials are pursuing some new approaches to improve public security if he decreases crime in the city.

During a press conference on Thursday, the city officials updated in the city center of Akron and discussed new projects.

Most reported crimes, including robbery, theft and crimes, have so far decreased this year, said police chief Brian Harding. Keeping and crimes in connection with firearms continue to drop, and the police calls have dropped by 7% compared to the previous year, said Harding.

A big increase, said Harding, was incidents of rape – 46% this year compared to the previous year at this time. Sexual attacks among young people seem to contribute to this increase, he said.

The police authority has enlarged communication with the Akron Children's Hospital and Summit County Children Services to fight this.

“I would like to see that our detectives continue to work hard in each of these cases, and I think that shows some of the results we have seen,” said Harding. “We hope that these numbers will be subjected to the rest of this year.”

While the police's incidents rose overall last year, these incidents declined by 27% this year, he added.

Harding attributes the decline to more de -escalation training for officers and less violent crimes, he said.

“Our officers from Proxy [are] Responsible to less violent calls, which probably also helps with the decline of these numbers, “said Harding.

Street team is in operation

The officials also presented an update from the city's Street Team Pilot program, which is aimed at gun violence.

The program combines previous criminals with people who have the risk of committing gun crimes to help them with conflict management, said Tony Ingram, director of public security.

The city committed three people who were referred to as “credible messengers” and who worked with 30 people to commit gun violence. The messengers also performed 40 hospital visits and carried out hundreds of telephone calls this year, he said.

“They come from the most endangered communities, are known in these communities, can be able to interact and to get involved in a way that we were honestly unable to do in the traditional systems,” said Ingram.

Ingram shared an anecdote of one of the messengers with a young person, whose father was recently sentenced to a long prison sentence.

“Of course he showed some different symptoms of this trauma to lose his father,” said Ingram. “Our street team dealt with him.”

This person showed interest in becoming a firefighter, said Ingram. The messenger providers combined the person with fire chief Leon Henderson, who spoke to him about his career in the department, he said.

The mayor of Akron, Shammas Malik, has so far applauded the efforts of the street team.

“I think this is a great example of the meaning of this work and what it can do by only touching an individual, and finally this can have wave effects in our community,” said Malik.

The city is working on a formal evaluation process to measure the effects of the pilot program, Malik added.

Crisis intervention team to expand

In the meantime, a crisis intervention team will expand its services this year.

Since the Summit County Outreach team, which is called Scout and started last year, has been responding to 1,051 calls for weekdays for people with a physical crisis, said Henderson.

Rescue workers go on calls together with representatives of community supply authorities to combine individuals in crisis with the resources they may need, he said.

“The aim is to stabilize the situation, reduce the need for an emergency visits or the participation of the law enforcement authorities and to combine people with adequate care by offering them in good time, compassionate and specialized,” said Henderson.

The next goal, said Henderson, was to expand Scout's availability to Saturdays, he said.

“We plan to work this unit later this year from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m.,” said Henderson.

The data of the past year show the need to expand the team, he said.

A new project for public security on the horizon participates youth sports, added Malik.

The city officials are in the initial phase to increase the financing for sports and wellness programs for young people, added Malik. They also plan to work with Project Play, a national initiative that focuses on improving youth participation in sports to improve the results of crime and health, said Malik.

If you or someone you know have to deal with mental health, call them Suicide and crisis lives at 988.