Macon's mayor wants to bring community together to prevent violence. Here's the plan
Macon TelegraphDec 08, 2021
Dec. 8—Macon-Bibb County Mayor
The plan, which includes allocations of
That said, Miller's effort may be the most ambitious and well-funded as it seeks not only to save lives and improve the quality of life, but also to thwart age-old perceptions and misconceptions regarding
As he stood before dozens of civic leaders and officials Wednesday in the county commission chambers at
"Are we gonna just sit back and complain about leadership ... about it being someone else's responsibility to (remedy violence), blaming others?" Miller asked. "Or are we gonna go down that pathway that says we are in this together? ... Today is the day that you get to decide. Are you with us or are you against us? Are you a fighter for the children, for our community, for economic development?"
Response to violence
The Macon Violence Prevention plan as it has been dubbed — "strategies for a safer
Since the beginning of
As recently as 2011, the annual homicide count here was as low as 13. In fact, if added together, violent deaths for the four years 2011 through 2014 combined to total 65.
It is in the past five years — with 200 total homicides — that
The city's struggles with violent crime, however, are deeply seated. Looking back nearly a century, there were 22 killings in
Six years later, in 1934,
It is against that decades-long backdrop of at-times increased bloodshed that
Community input
Through meetings with some 1,100 locals at more than a dozen community forums, the violence-prevention effort set out to identify key problems and fashion possible solutions, addressing issues that include poverty, drug abuse, homelessness, recidivism and food insecurity.
The results of an online survey early in the effort included feedback from more than 700 respondents. The questions the locals answered included such queries as "how serious you feel the level of crime is in your neighborhood" (38.4% said "very serious") and "how safe do you feel in your neighborhood" (9.3% were "very safe" and 62.5% were "safe").
Drugs were mentioned as a perceived leading cause of crime, followed by a "lack of supervision of minors," a "lack of education" and then "poverty."
Strategies outlined in the plan's law enforcement components to reduce violence include: "improving law enforcement-community relations," increasing police patrols, "investing in proven technologies to prevent crime," "investing in code enforcement ... and expand programs to combat blight."
The plan's "community-led strategies" include: improving education, investing in mental health programs, creating supervised activities for kids and stemming domestic violence.
"The future," Dennis told the crowd at Wednesday's unveiling, "depends on us choosing good and supporting our brothers and sisters."
The mayor went on to say, "Look around this room today. Everyone here ... (is) unified in this important effort. We are fighting for our home."
Miller acknowledged that the city is in the early stages of launching what is "a very fluid program."
"As we know," he said, "there is no silver bullet in fighting crime."
He also addressed potential critics or those who might not buy in to the plan — particularly those on social media, some of whom seem to find glee in the city's woes.
"I will not be discouraged by the naysayers," the mayor said. "I will fight for
Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.
This story was originally published
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