Mayor Seeks Ideas To Stop Crime

[Steve]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- While the sheriff pushes for more officers to stop crime in Jacksonville, Mayor John Peyton has called on some of the most recognizable names in the city to help stop the violence.

This year, there have been 142 homicides in Jacksonville. Last week, Sheriff John Rutherford called the river city the murder capital of the state.

The mayor said he's tired of Jacksonville's reputation as the most violent city in the state and said it's time for action.

"We are closing on 2007 leading the state in murder. We have other indicators I think are related to it. We have the highest infant mortality in the state and the highest dropout rate in the state. We have brokenness in Jacksonville," Peyton said.

He said he is turning to some big names in Jacksonville to come up with a plan to end the violence.

"We are not looking for another task force. We're not looking for a study. We are looking for actionable items," Peyton said.

People like Jaguars' owner Wayne Weaver and former Sheriff Nat Glover will join about 140 others to come up with a solution.

Channel 4 reporter Jim Piggott caught up with Glover Wednesday and asked him about the city's plague of violence, but the former sheriff said he didn't want to say anything until he spoke with the group.

"The mayor has asked me to serve on this committee and I feel honored and privileged to do that. Beyond that, I think we need to wait and see how all of this plays out, and I will be interested to see that. Again, I am honored to be a part of it," Glover said.

For the next several months the mayor said he would hold people accountable for their work.

State Attorney Harry Shorstein told Channel 4 he did not want to comment about the mayor's group, but said more police officers is the answer to the city's crime problem and that he has the highest prosecution rate in the state.

The sheriff has already presented his plans, telling the mayor more officers and more money would work to help curb violence.

"Well, I think there is a resource challenge and it will require a reprioritization of what we are spending money on," Peyton said.

The group is expected to take about 120 days to determine a course of action.


http://www.news4jax.com/news/14837844/detail.html

[Steve]

The mayor said he's tired of Jacksonville's reputation as the most violent city in the state and said it's time for action.

Glad he came to that realization now.

"We are not looking for another task force. We're not looking for a study. We are looking for actionable items," Peyton said.

Well that's a relief.  For a second, I thought this was another study.

[vicupstate]

What is the point of this exercise ??

You don't have to call a psychic line to know how this is going to turn out.  The 'committee' will recommend:

** More Police Officers
** Move 'desk work' officers to a actual beat
** More after schools programs to give juveniles something to occupy their time
** Identify at-risk youth and veer them into alternative boot camp type programs
** Hold more gun buy-backs
** Job training and job placement for low income areas

Did I miss anything?  Of wait, how could I forget... Hold prayer breakfast.   

After which, Peyton will say we don't have any money to do those things.  Then they will scrape up enough money for the breakfast and call it a day's work.

Maybe he should impose a "Murder Fee" on the criminals.  That would raise a lot of money.   

[David]

Here's what really needs to be done:

Murder's already illegal right? But criminals continue to break the law regardless...

What we need to do is make a law that makes it illegal for criminals to break the law! I mean it’s so simple.... On top of the murder fee suggested above of course. . I think once that's passed, all of our problems will be solved.

Or how about we deannex the northwest quadrant of the city and create a new township, that would help stats dramatically!

[JeffreyS]

With the group he has put together he needs to do a fund raiser to enact the plans they come up with.