WARREN, Ohio - Violence in Warren is getting the attention of community leaders and businesses. The call for action comes just days after a deadly shoot out in the city.
Nearly 100 citizens and business leaders filled the banquet room of the Sunrise Inn asking the Warren police chief and mayor what's being done to combat the violence in the city. Both men would not comment specifically on their strategy, but the mayor guaranteed the community would see a difference.
"I'm not going to let you know exactly what, particularly from the law enforcement stand point," said Mayor Doug Franklin. "But believe me, you will see a reaction."
It came as no surprise to those attending the meeting that law enforcement points to drugs as the root of the problem. A claim the county coroner says is fact.
"The majority of our homicides are drug related," said Trumbull County Coroner Humphrey Germaniuk. "You can probably ask the chief, the majority of our burglaries are drug related."
To combat the issue, citizens called for more police presence.
According to Chief Tim Bowers, while the city is currently in the process of hiring, they're still recovering from the economic downturn in 2008 where they lost more than 20 officers.
"We are working diligently to get more policemen so that we can be proactive, so we can put a guy in a hot spot, so we can do more of those things," Bowers said.
Community members argued back saying another problem was cleared up in the city with the help of the attorney general, they question why this problem doesn't deserve the same attention.
"What happened with the massage parlors, that was a 12 month investigation," Franklin said. "We're trying to do something similar to that, but I'm not going to tell the bad guys what we're doing."
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 Worldnow and WFMJ. All Rights Reserved. For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms
