Councilman calls for anti-violence program
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Four shootings in close succession in Pittsburgh's Hilltop neighborhoods demonstrate the need for quick action on an anti-violence program, city Councilman Ricky Burgess said yesterday as he detailed a plan rolled out last week.
"What you saw [Wednesday] is just another chapter of a sad story in our community," he said, referring to the shooting of three bystanders -- one fatally -- in Beltzhoover, and the discovery of a murder victim behind a school in St. Clair Village. "It must be stopped."
He said council members will vote Wednesday on a $200,000 allocation to hire David M. Kennedy of the City University of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Mr. Kennedy is an architect of Boston's successful Operation Ceasefire, and of similar efforts that have halved murder rates in a some cities.
Within six months, he wants intelligence gathering to be largely complete and expects a central piece of the strategy -- a meeting between top troublemakers, law enforcement and community leaders -- to occur.
"We want you to know, the hammer is coming," he said yesterday, in a preview of the message of that meeting. But for those looking to escape thug life, there's "a pot of jobs at the end of this rainbow."
He estimated that 500 to 1,000 people who are "hyper-involved in crime" drive most of the violence, and said that it is sparked more by personal beefs than by battles over the drug trade.
Mr. Burgess, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Public Safety Director Michael Huss and possibly others would make up the Pittsburgh Initiative to Reduce Crime Governing Board. It would oversee teams dedicated to law enforcement, social services, community cooperation and data analysis. Those teams would coordinate efforts of city, Allegheny County, federal and nonprofit partners.
If the approach lowers homicide rates, it can be used against drug dealing and domestic violence, he said.
First Published September 26, 2008 12:00 am
