Crime task force expands into 2 neighborhoods

A Columbus program that sends public resources into neighborhoods following a homicide has expanded to two new neighborhoods.

The Violent Crime Review group started earlier this year in Linden, and the city now is using the same tactic in the Hilltop and on the South Side. Those neighborhoods have been targeted because of their high homicide rates.

After a homicide, police notify Columbus Public Health and other agencies so that they can marshal city resources to respond to the neighborhood. Police relay information about the case to several agencies, including the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Department of Neighborhoods and the CARE Coalition, which sends caseworkers into neighborhoods affected by violent crime.

The agencies involved have 48 hours to develop a response plan. That can include door-to-door check-ins with residents; a search for vacant and abandoned properties that could attract crime; and analysis of 311 complaints to see whether the city could immediately correct problems with streetlights or alleys.

Specialists who work in recreation centers also can weigh in on whether the homicide might have a gang connection that could spur retaliation.

The group then meets monthly to discuss past cases and look for common threads, such as the relationship between the victim and suspect.

So far, the group has responded to eight homicides, visiting 155 homes and identifying 30 vacant properties within 5 square miles of the crime, according to a news release.

Mayor Andrew J. Ginther also has rolled out several new safety initiatives as the city weighed how to respond to a spike in homicides in 2017. The city has deployed more bike patrols in highcrime neighborhoods and hired more police officers this year.