KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The City of Kalamazoo is experiencing a spike in gun violence, and concern among residents is growing.
During a virtual Commission meeting Monday night, several people called during the public comment period, asking the city to do more.
In fact, police responded to a a shooting on Florence Street Monday night, about an hour before the city meeting began.
Residents said that the gun violence is one of the most urgent issues that the city is facing, with some suggesting the allocation of more funding to help curb these instances.
KDPS Deputy Chief Dave Boysen says much of the violence is being conducted by juveniles, who don’t stay off the streets long even when they do make arrests.
Boysen says this is because of the courts, along with staffing issues at the juvenile home, as reported last week.
KDPS and non-profits have applied group intervention to redirect youthful offenders away from crime, but Boysen says more efforts are needed.
“The thing we need to make those successful is the promise of swift, certain, legitimate consequences if you continue to pick up a gun and harm our community,” Boysen said.
Commissioner Eric Cunningham urged the public to help by calling Silent Observer when they have information, even though he thinks prosecution alone won’t end the violence.
“That’s a piece of it, we can’t put people away if we don’t have evidence,” Cunningham said. “The system is so broken in so many different ways that we can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.”
Mayor Dave Anderson agreed with other commissioners, saying gun violence is their top priority.
“It is a baseline expectation that everyone who lives in the city should feel that they can live in a safe neighborhood,” Anderson said.
But solving it won’t be easy and will take time, and he says it will take people community-wide to sit down and come up with long range solutions. In the meantime, the city and the community are backing a number of programs to target those responsible, and to come to the aid of their victims.
According to Deputy Chief Boysen, the statistics for Kalamazoo 2021 as of Monday were eight dead, 46 wounded, 220 shooting incidents and 400 guns seized by KDPS.
Boysen added these numbers are well ahead of last year’s pace, and 2020 was a record year.
— John McNeil contributed to this reporting. —
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