The City of Peoria plans to continue the anti-violence Don’t Shoot program. The issue was raised as City Council members got an update on crime statistics:
Peoria Police Chief Jerry Mitchell says overall crime in the city is down nine-percent compared to the same time last year, but both homicides and robberies are up. When asked if the City should continue the anti-gang violence program called Don’t Shoot, Mitchell says the initiative has benefits in a year that’s seen 13 homicides so far:
“There wasn’t any initiative or any program, invented that was going to stop five or six of those. And I can speak pretty confidently when I say that they were executions.”
Mitchell says Don't Shoot also helped police effectively target gang-members last year. Since the Chief's report, a 15-year-old male was found in possession of a handgun and was taken to the hospital after accidentally shooting himself. Minutes after the shooting, a driver fled police within blocks of the incident. The driver was arrested for blowing through stop signs and driving while intoxicated. Police say those two incidents don’t appear to be related.