A new action plan for preventing gun violence in Rochester has been unveiled.
The Roc against Gun Violence Coalition has been around for about 8 months in an effort to get people to think twice before resorting to violence. It’s been running ads on billboards around the city.
The coalition is led by Rochester City Councilman Willie Lightfoot. He’s the head of the council’s public safety committee. He says the group includes a variety of organizations, including, the Center for Dispute Settlement, Pathways to Peace and Project Exile.
The coalition’s action plan is asking for stricter police enforcement of gun laws and pushing legislation for the safe storage of legal weapons. He says they also want to increase the Rochester Police Department’s budget.
“We’re looking to increase the resources toward our police department, so that they can they can start treating every shooting as a homicide response,” Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot says the funding increase will likely be in the city’s upcoming budget, and could mean that more police officers will respond to every shooting. He says that more officers on the scene could mean that suspects are caught faster, and that a consistent show of force could prevent more shootings from happening.
Some other parts of the plan include developing a gun amnesty program, increasing staffing for the mediation programs, as well as some ideas from outside of Rochester.
“We’re looking at some stuff that they done in Brooklyn, with a mobile trauma unit, that actually comes in for a period of time that deals with the effects of trauma anywhere the shootings happen.”
Mobile Trauma Units offer counseling and access to other resources to communities after violence occurs.
Lightfoot says many needed resources exist “in silos” in Rochester but the coalition attempting to bring them together.
“We wanted to bring all of these institutions and organizations together and let’s collectively think of ways to combat this and educate, advocate and eradicate gun violence and violence in our community,” said Lightfoot.
City residents who want to get involved with this effort can find out more at a public meeting on Wednesday evening at 6:30 Rochester City Hall council chambers.
