Durham to get more help from federal crime experts
DURHAM (WTVD) -- Durham city leaders will get more help in its fight against violent crime. The city council agreed to seek additional guidance from a team of crime analysts hired by the U.S. Department of Justice.
That extra help will come in the form of additional training for police officers and identifying other law enforcement agencies to partner with Durham, according to a federal crime report released last month.
"We're very appreciative we were able to get someone to come in and take a look at us," said Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez at a special session of the city council on Thursday. "We're never ever afraid to be viewed and analyzed."
After reviewing crime data and interviewing community members, the analysts determined that African-American males between the ages of 15 and 34 are eight times more likely to die from homicide compared to the national average.
The shocking statistic piqued the interest of a Durham minister who attended to today's special session to hear more.
"We have to deal with the root problems because historically the DOJ has stood for a demonization of just us in the African-American community," said Paul Scott, adding that he had read the report and found the recommendations to be ineffective. "We have to be very careful about how we go about it. If we don't deal with root causes we become the problem instead of the solution."
Scott recommended more community involvement among churches and other faith-based organizations.
There was no discussion of the staggering statistic about young black males in Durham at the meeting. Instead, council members focused on how Durham is fighting crime and whether it's doing it efficiently.
"We've already got some good stuff going on," said Council member Diane Catotti. "How are those recommendations any different than what we had before and how is this going to help us make them work better?"
Durham's city manager emphasized more than 500 police officers have received sensitivity training to improve community relations.
"That doesn't mean everybody is done thinking about it, but it's certainly the initial steps in that training," said Tom Bonfield.
The federal report served up both suggestions and criticism of the Durham mayor's Violent Crime Reduction Roundtable launched in response to gun violence.
Bill Bell told the council the VCRR has had clear goals since it was created in 2011. While some council members questioned whether Durham has too many crime prevention programs, Bell sees it as a necessary crime-fighting tool.
"We might have even worse problems because a lot of those groups are doing a lot of good things. They're preventing some issues from actually occurring," said Bell.
