David, you got work!
Author David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship, and The End of Violence in Inner City America," is a Peoria Reads! Special Project, as well as the inspiration for a Peoria Police Department task force and public initiative called "Don't Shoot."
Published in 2011, Kennedy's book addresses violence through a program that brings gang members to the negotiating table, and intensifies police focus on crime hot spots, in order to prevent deadly shootings.
Kennedy is tentatively scheduled to visit Peoria in late August, and will meet with city officials.
In late June, the Peoria Police Department initiated a task force aimed at reducing gun violence. It was the third year in a row for the task force, and came at the end of an especially brutal stretch of gunplay, in which the city saw 50 percent of the year's gun violence take place in six weeks - from May 9, to June 20. Source
A violent crime task force that is part of a major anti-street violence initiative called Don't Shoot has been saturating crime hot spots since mid-June. Below are the results from June 20 through Aug. 13. Source
- 1,616: Traffic stops
- 604: Traffic citations
- 129: Municipal ordinance violations
- 202: Vehicle impounds
- 477: Arrests
- 33: Guns
- $29,751: Cash
- 1,175: Grams of marijuana
- 64: Grams of crack
- 34: Ecstasy tablets
- 20: Grams of heroin