Rush And Avondale....Again

[AllanY2525]

I have a night vision digital camcorder - cost about $1200, but that was almost
ten years ago.  A similar (but more advanced, of course) camcorder can be had
nowadays for a couple to a few hundred dollars.

[jay]

This was the second night in a row that the YPD had to be called to this location for a gang fight.

Could a night vision camera be used by neighbors to help identify the fighters?
How good are these cameras and what do they cost?  I would like to see one demonstrated.

[DefendYoungstown]

The Idora neighborhood recently experienced a similar incident. One officer was called to the scene...and arrived 30 mins later. Pasadena Ave. (east of South Ave.) has also experienced numerous gang fighting incidents. Neighborhood group members state that it's a select few homes that cultivate / attract the people involved in the gang fighting. With these type of incidents plus the increase in the number of car & home break-ins (throughout the city) coupled with the fact we have less officers, I think it's time the city seriously and aggressively begin to pursue effective forms of technology. To its credit, it has began doing so by installing cameras near schools, incorporating the Spot Shotters gun shot detection system, and licence plate scanners that immediately detect if the owner of the vehicle has existing warrants, etc. However, the cameras are only in 3 locations (not installed yet)...SpotShotters only covers 2-square miles. It's a good start but we need to be way futher ahead.

Just take a look at what Canton is doing:

Canton to install cameras in high crime neighborhoods
http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x531842856/Canton-to-install-cameras-in-high-crime-neighborhoods

- Cameras in high crime areas (funded by drug forfeiture money)
- Identify the city's "most wanted" criminals on cable-access TV
- Regular mass e-mail, text and Twitter alerts about criminal activity

Ideally, I believe cameras should be installed in any defined neighborhood area in which residents agree to their use (assuming funding was secured and capacity available). I also don't think it's unreasonable that we require them to be installed on the outside of problem convience stores (i.e. stores in which their is a high volume of calls for police service) as some cities do.

Most of the ideas above actually came from neighborhood group folks that I know and work with. However, for now, most would be happy if the Youngstown Police Department would simply prioritize fixing City Watch which is the primary communication tool of most neighborhood groups. It has been experiencing problem for nearly 5 months. We will be taking leaders to the next City Council Safety Committee Meeting to seek an answer as to why - after repeated requests at numerous public meetings - this has yet to be fixed (among other things). Perhaps begining to regularly attend meetings in City Hall (that virtually little to no citizens typcially attend...I know, I used to work there) with prepared and valid questions is just a good practice that we need to start doing, in general.

Because there's a lot we could be doing if we wanted to.

[Elmo-Ytown]

30 people? Does YPD even have the numbers on shift to safely handle that type of incident? I wouldn't want to approach that type of incident with less than 15 cops, especially considering the potential for weapons. Are our neighboring departments backing us up in incidents of this scale?

[john r. swierz]

     If you mean Rush and Avondale I just talked to the father of the owner of a house on that corner that is having problems with the tenants.

[jay]

Here we go again!  The police were just sent to Rush and Erie where it's been reported that 30 people are fighting in the street.