8:11 p.m.:
The symposium is over, it ended with people applauding. Anyone who followed this live blog, thanks for tuning in! Good night from The Gate!!
Questions:
How effective are substations?
SRU officers are stationed in Mitchell Wooten Courts, lowers crime in immediate area, but difficult to expand
Smith: “If I had an endless pot of money and an endless supply of officers . .”
Is dept. fully staffed?
Short six officers, standard for police departments, economy means deluge of applicants for fire and police slots.
ex: 30 applicants for one firefighter position.
“There is some good to the bad economy and we’re hiring away.”
One woman congragulates Smith on the Youth Protection Ordinance. She said officers cited her son when he was out in a car with his girlfriend.
“If you hadn’t come along, I might have been a grandmother,” she says.
Smith says parents can come and negotiate the citation and $25 fine for curfew violation.
“The $25 isn’t important to me. What’s important to me is, mom and dad cares enough about the young person to come down and talk with me.”
7:51 p.m.:
We’re watching a video now on “Erasing the Lines,” a community program organized with youths involved at The Gate.
Chief Smith: “I think this speaks volumes about the good in Kinston; I think there’s plenty of it here.”
7:39 p.m.:
You can get a wealth of information about crime in your community through www.crimereports.com, including stats, graphs, pie charts, maps, etc., specific to your section of the city.
The Kinston PD updates it at around 3 p.m. most days.
Email crime tips to tips@ci.kinston.nc.us.
Chief Smith: “If you see it, if you know about it, send it in.”
“(Crimereports.com is) another way for us to be a little more transparent, and get a lot more information out there.”
7:30 p.m.:
We’re learning about Kinston’s gang issues now.
Sgt. Russell says there are 226 “validated” Kinston gang members belonging to at least five separate sets, including the Bloods and Crips.
But, of those 226, there are 59 currently in state, county and federal prison, leaving 164 known gangbangers on the city streets.
Russell gives his opinions on helping prevent the spread of gangs:
“Some of these young kids are salvageable; jail isn’t the answer.”
“It’s not what I believe, it’s not what you believe, it’s what they believe and they believe this is the right way.”
7:14 pm:
Chief Boyd said police issued 131 citations against local youths in 2008, many for violating the city curfew.
Of the youths cited for curfew violations, the majority were caught in areas where many teens hang out - Galaxy of Sports, Wal-Mart and the movie theatre.
Boyd says parents can contest the citation with Greg Smith.
“He will have an audience with you and decide if that citation stands.”
Smith took over the mike briefly:
“I don’t think the city of Kinston should be in the parenting business, but . . . we got into the parenting business.”
7:04 p.m.: Asst. Chief Annette Boyd is now talking about the Youth Protection Ordinance.
6:55 pm:
Maj. Greg Thompson, head of the investigations division, is making his presentation.
The 4-person investigations unit handles all felony incidents, from murders to property crimes.
Thompson is stressing that many crimes in his caseload are committed by “repeat offenders.”
The unit also handles sex crimes committed against adults and children - 15 forcible rapes on adults, 17 on children in 2008.
“I think the youngest sexual assault we’ve investigated is the age of two,” Thompson tells the audience, which gasps in disgust.
Thompson and Smith have displayed crime maps showing “hot spots” in the city over the past few years, the lowest in green, the highest in red. Each year, southeast Kinston has a large red spot over it.
6:45 p.m.:
Hi all,
OK, I’ve arrived here at the Gate and am set up for the Free Press’ latest live blog.
Public Safety Director Greg Smith has given the audience a brief rundown on how the department is implementing “intelligence and information-based policing.”
He has also shown crime stats for the past 5-10 years through 2008. Since 1999 crime overall has gone up to a peak in 2005 and then declined.
Smith attributes that, in part, to the creation of the Special Response Units, made up of 6-8 police officers and 6-8 firefighters who are cross-trained in both disciplines. The department now has an extra shift of officers who can respond to either a crime or a fire.
