Grant targets crime hot spots
$5K in fed funds will pay for extra police patrols in areas of violent crime
NORWALK — Police will soon be able to to send extra patrols to neighborhoods that experience violent crime thanks to a small federally funded grant.
But department officials warned that the grant, worth $5,000, will likely be exhausted relatively quickly as police respond to troublesome “hot spots” — specific geographical locations in the city that report a pattern of criminal activity.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get enough money as we would have liked, but it is still a little bit of money that will help us toward hot spot patrols in times when there’s been violent crime,” Deputy Chief Susan Zecca told the Health and Public Safety Committee of the Norwalk Common Council last week.
Zecca said the additional patrols will be sent to crime scenes in the aftermath of violent incidents; for instance, a street corner where residents report multiple shootings will likely see additional police
officers in the area.
The seven-member Health and Public Safety Committee voted unanimously on March 25 to authorize Mayor Harry Rilling to accept the grant money on behalf of the city.
The grant is funded through the Justice Education Center and the U.S. Justice Department’s Project Safe Neighborhood, a 20-year-old initiative aimed at reducing gun violence in communities across the country. Last fiscal year, the federal government distributed nearly $18 million in grants as part of the program, according to an annual progress report.
The grant money will cover the costs associated with staffing extra officers at hot spots, Zecca said.
Department officials expect the funds will be used up fairly quickly as the summer months approach, when there’s typically an uptick in criminal activity.
Still, Zecca said the grant money will help the department fight violent crime. She also said police hope the added patrols will help ease fears among residents who live near hot spots.
Department officials rely on crime statistics collected by officers to identify and target hot spots across the city. A study of policing strategies published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology in 2019 found that hot spot policing is an effective tool at preventing crime and keeping surrounding neighborhoods safe. “Focused police intervention at hot spot locations does not seem to result in the spatial displacement of crime into areas immediately surrounding targeted locations,” researchers wrote. “Rather, crime control benefits seem to diffuse into proximate areas.”