Helping the Columbus Police Department in its efforts to deter crime in the city is what the Minority Leadership Training and Development Program seeks to accomplish, according to Lowndes County District 5 Supervisor and program facilitator Leroy Brooks.
“We have a project that we are just starting, which is the formation of a Community Crime Prevention Education Task Force,” Brooks said.
The group met Monday at the Columbus Lowndes Development Link building. Columbus Police Chief Joseph St. John spoke to the group about crime and ways to prevent it.
“One of the things I want to emphasize is that some of the crimes we work on you cannot prevent,” he said.
St. John said the biggest number of calls his department gets each week is about vehicle accidents. He said auto burglaries and another big issue.
“People need to make sure they do not leave valuable items in their cars, because they are issuing an invitation for someone to break into them,” he said.
Crime prevention is more than just the efforts of police officers, St. John said, it is also the effort of the community.
St. John said he wants to see the bicycle patrol get back on track, and wants to see his officers out on foot patrol more.
“Our officers need to get out of the cars more often,” he said.
Brooks said he appreciated St. John coming by to speak to the group. He said he would like to see the team develop a program to help the police in its efforts to deter crime in the neighborhoods.
“We need to get out into the neighborhoods and talk with the people and get their feel and perspective so we can come back and develop a model program to help our police in its efforts,” he said.
Allen Baswell was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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