Reflection, action needed to stem homicides

People are dying, and we’ve got to make it stop.

Last Tuesday’s Dispatch article “Rising murder rate in Columbus bucks US trend” reported: “Ohio’s largest city has had 93 homicides so far this year, an increase of nearly 39 percent over the 67 homicides at this time last year.”

And on Sept. 7, Metro Columnist Theodore Decker presented data showing Columbus had from 79 to 92 homicides in half the years in the 2007-2014 period.

Columbus’s yearly count of homicides has averaged more than 92 killings since 2006.

Why? Why are homicides increasing in Columbus but decreasing nationally (according to a recent New York University report)? Why are more people dying violently here and in cities like Baltimore, Charlotte and Nashville while homicides fall in cities like Detroit, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.?

Answering “why” questions might lead to solutions.

If a dearth of training on handling mental illness contributes to fatal violence, then training by educational and mental-health professionals like Columbus Scioto 6-12 school hero Van Chambers would help (“Man says bond with student prevented bloodshed,” Dispatch article, last Tuesday).

Conflict between, on one side, our city with its Division of Police and, on the other, neighborhoods and precincts with elevated homicide rates demands resolution. Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs has made correct steps in that direction.

Anyone who identifies with unlawful violence needs to rework his self-image and find community support for it. Athletics, sports teams, faith communities and schools might help.

J. Eric Peters Columbus