By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
The United States Conference of Mayors convened for their 94th Winter Meeting from Jan. 28 to Jan. 30 in Washington, D.C. More than 250 bipartisan mayors gathered over the three days to make practical progress on issues of affordability, public safety, housing and more.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Office of Mayor Baltimore/J.J. McQueen
At the conference, city leaders and experts discussed an array of topics impacting mayors and Americans throughout the country, including crime.
On Jan. 28, Mayor Jerry Dyer (R), of Fresno, Calif., and Mayor Brett P. Smiley (D), of Providence, R.I., led a session on current policing issues. Dyer and Smiley also serve as co-chairs of the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Mayors and Police Chiefs Task Force.
Dyer highlighted that police are expected to execute a surplus of responsibilities.
“Law enforcement has gravitated over time to be all things to all people,” said Dyer, who is a former police chief for Fresno. “At some point you have to—from an internal basis—look at what you’re responding to as an agency, and find ways that others can do that, so that the police officers can get back to their fundamental responsibilities.”
Dyer pressed that police are currently expected to do anything that society demands, including being a mental health worker, stressing that it is not realistic.
“It’s incumbent on us, as mayors and police chiefs, to limit what they respond to,” said Dyer.
Leaders also cited officer overwork and fatigue, increased civil unrest tied to expanded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in cities, along with ongoing staffing shortages and retention challenges.
Solutions to these issues offered during the meeting included prioritizing key safety functions; setting policy limits on hours and overtime; employing alternative emergency response systems; clear use-of-force rules and strong front-line supervision during unrest, and full-scale training for mass incidents.
Later that day, Quintin Lucas, mayor of Kansas City, Mo., gathered Baltimore City Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D), Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D), Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) to discuss the different ways they have decreased their crime rates in their respective cities.
“We make sure to invest in communities, invest in the people, give them opportunities that then allow them to thrive,” said Dickens, a sentiment echoed among the mayors on the panel. “When you do that, then you’ll see crime start to reduce.”
Dickens said investing in education, employment, youth services, recreational activities and stable housing have been key to Atlanta’s efforts to reduce violent crime. Dickens highlighted that Atlanta saw a nearly 60 percent reduction in youth-related crime due to investments in keeping youth occupied in productive, healthy ways.
Mayor Scott highlighted the work that the city has done getting illegal guns off the streets that have aided in high crime rates throughout the city’s history.
“Over 60 percent of the weapons that my police officers seize every year come from other states,” said Scott. “We just won the largest settlement that any city has done against a gun store, and months ago, $72 million for a gun store that was purposely going around Maryland’s gun laws and putting guns on the streets of Baltimore.”
The mayors encouraged other cities to employ these kinds of tactics that support those that have been neglected by society, while holding those who do not want to change accountable as a way of driving down crime.