‘We need all hands on deck.’ Columbus leaders discuss next steps after spike in violence
Community-based policing, targeting high-crime areas, meeting with gang leaders, and possibly establishing a local “Cure Violence” program to interrupt a cycle of retaliatory shootings.
Those were among the measures city leaders discussed Tuesday in a news conference prompted by a recent spike in homicides and other assaults in Columbus.
The city has recorded 12 homicides so far this year, though Police Chief Freddie Blackmon noted one was an accidental shooting, and one was the result of an assault that occurred in September, before the victim died from complications on Jan. 24.
He said detectives still are reviewing a fatal shooting early Friday at the Suite Bar & Grill, 5300 Sidney Simons Blvd., to determine whether the circumstances warrant a murder charge. A coroner’s report indicated that shooting resulted from a fight that the 31-year-old man killed may have initiated.
Police have determined that three of the homicides involved domestic violence, three were either gang-related or retaliatory, two were motivated by robbery and two were the result of personal disputes, Blackmon said.
This year’s early rash of violence follows the 46 homicides reported here in 2020, a recent peak.
Though much of Tuesday’s news conference led by the police chief along with Mayor Skip Henderson and Sheriff Greg Countryman focused on law enforcement, Blackmon stressed that the entire community must play a role in quelling the violence.
“We need all hands on deck,” the chief repeated throughout his remarks. “The Columbus Police Department and the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office cannot do this alone.”
Parents, educators, churches and civic groups all need to get involved, particularly in talking to younger people about the risks and consequences of such violence, he said.
He noted also that Columbus has a recurring problem with gun owners leaving their weapons unsecured in their cars, where they’re easily stolen by thieves who routinely sweep through neighborhoods testing door handles to find vehicles left unlocked.
That is a common source for the firearms used in violent crimes, Blackmon said: “These individuals are not going to stores to purchase handguns.”
Next steps
Among the steps he said law enforcement will take are:
- Community policing, in which patrol officers visit with residents and merchants in the areas they patrol, introducing themselves and asking people what their concerns are.
- Targeted enforcement, concentrating resources in neighborhoods that the police intelligence unit determines to be most susceptible to crime and violence.
Sheriff Countryman said his staff is communicating with older street gang members, to solicit their aid and advice in reducing the violence related to gang rivalries.
The sheriff’s office over the years had identified 168 different gangs operating in the city, he said.
Both Blackmon and Countryman urged residents who witness violent crimes to tell police what they know. The sheriff said it’s obvious more people are witnessing what happens than are reporting it.
“Whenever there’s a shooting, the first thing someone does is put it on social media,” he said.
Blackmon encouraged anyone who can aid police in their investigations to call homicide detectives at 706-225-4254 or the Crime Stoppers tip line at 706-653-3188. Other contact information is on the police department website, www.columbusga.gov/police, he said.
Countryman mentioned the possibility of establishing a local “Cure Violence” program, an initiative the city considered years ago, but decided it could not afford.
It is based on a national template, using local residents formerly involved in drugs or gangs to weigh in after a violent incident to try to impede any retaliation.
Seth Brown, Columbus’ crime prevention director, said those who do this work are called “interrupters.” They are dispatched to emergency rooms or to neighborhoods after a shooting or other assault, to talk to those involved and their allies, to persuade them not to seek vengeance.
Brown told those gathered in the Public Safety Center community room Tuesday that 75-80% of the $350,000 his crime prevention effort puts into 34 programs go to the schools, where some have been successful.
But COVID-19 has hampered those efforts, as two programs had to be discontinued because they had no plan to continue through the pandemic, he said.
Among other city leaders attending the news conference was District 4 Columbus Councilor Toyia Tucker, who said residents who want to get involved are welcome to attend a public safety town hall meeting this weekend with the mayor and other officials.
It is set for noon Saturday at Canaan Baptist Church, off Woodruff Farm Road at 2835 Branton Woods Drive, she said.