LIMA — Ohio’s assistant attorney general was in Lima on Monday to talk about an initiative aimed at curbing the gun violence that has become all too familiar in Lima.
Started in 2013, the Safe Neighborhoods Initiative began in Akron as a way of attempting to reach out to potential gun offenders before they would choose to pick up a gun. Former FBI Agent Robert Fiatal now the state’s assistant attorney general, has been leading this initiative and explained the program to City Council on Monday.
“It relies on a basic premise, that most violent crime, no matter what the size of the community is, is committed by a very small percentage of that community, and if you can identify who those are likely to be, you have a group intervention with them to provide them with a common message from members of your own community of why they have to help stop the violence,” he said.
Lima has already hosted multiple Safe Neighborhoods interventions, the most recent one in January. Lima is one of 10 cities in the state involved with the program. During these interventions, law enforcement officers and prosecutors are on hand to provide information on the legal repercussions of gun violence, while EMS personnel provide graphic imagery of the after-effects of these acts, not just on fatal victims, but also on those who survive. The intervention is concluded by having pastors on hand to emphasize that these individuals are valuable and can have something positive to offer to the community.
“When we had our fist juvenile intervention almost two years ago, I got a call from our contact, who explained that there was a young man who, after hearing our pitch, re-enrolled in Lima Senior,” Fiatal said. “He had been homeless since he was 11. He finished high school, and I learned four months ago that he is at OSU-Lima.”
Mayor David Berger and 5th Ward Councilwoman Teresa Adams had previously attended interventions and spoke to how deeply emotional those experiences were. Some feedback was offered from 3rd Ward Councilman Jesse Lowe II, who felt there needed to be some changes made to the program.
“You hold it in the middle of the day, when responsible people are working, so we need some after 5 p.m. classes,” he said. “We need someone who looks like us to come down and talk to the kids.”
