Staff photo / Ed Runyan The law enforcement officials who participated in the kickoff of this year’s Youngstown Project Impact violent crime initiative Wednesday were, from left, Lt. Ben Dennison, commander of the Canfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol; Capt. Maurice Waddell, Warren District commander for the Ohio State Highway Patrol; Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown; Youngstown Police Chief Carl Davis; Special Agent Robert Carson, FBI special agent for the Youngstown-Warren area; and Fred Herdman, U.S. Deputy Marshal.

YOUNGSTOWN — Mayor Jamael Tito Brown called the Youngstown violent-crime-reduction program, Project Impact, “probably one of the biggest pieces and one of the greatest partnerships that I’ve been able to see.”

Homicides dropped from 31 in 2021, the first year of Project Impact, to 20 last year, a reduction of 35%. He said Wednesday during a press conference at the Youngstown Police Department that crime overall has dropped by about 20%.

Homicides have remained fairly steady in recent years — between 23 and 19 homicides the last three years.

Brown said Project Impact is a key reason crime is down.

The number of homicides so far this year is 5, which is similar to this time last year. Keilub Paul, 3, was shot to death in his home on Pointview Avenue on the South Side at about 5 p.m. April 14, but police have not yet called it as a homicide as the investigation continues.

Project Impact is a partnership among the Youngstown Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, FBI and its task force, Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Marshals Service, Ohio Adult Parole Authority and Ohio Investigative Unit

Police Chief Carl Davis said reducing violent crime enhances public safety through removing weapons and drugs and taking people who have committed crimes off the streets.

The mayor said lots of people have told him that they are happy to see the Project Impact officers out in the city. “Youngstown citizens want what every other community wants — safety.”

He said Flock cameras that read license plates are among the technologies employed.

Brown said his friends and neighbors know when the Project Impact officers are out working. “They know five times faster before I do,” he said.

He said the work of Project Impact may cause “some slowdown” and “some presence in your neighborhood,” so “be cooperative, be patient.” “They need to know it’s all for the better.”

He said the initiative produces better results each year, as well as “better with relationships” among agencies and educating each other. “I think the citizens benefit from that.”

Davis said he’s been told that “some of our citizens continue to feel uneasy in their homes. I’ve heard this, the mayor’s heard this. You still hear too much gunfire in your neighborhoods, but I assure you that the Youngstown Police Department is fully committed to enhancing public safety.”

He said Project Impact will again target “our high-crime areas, and we are also going to pay particular attention to the West Side, along the Mahoning Avenue Corridor. Some of those streets off of there, we have noticed an uptick in crimes, so we are going to be focused in those areas.”

He said gas stations and “spots where people like to hang out at night and create some problems for the neighbors and people in the surrounding area.”

Capt. Maurice Waddell, Warren District commander for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said the Project Impact initiative will include “a local saturation or service initiative throughout the summer that will be data driven with focus areas identified statistically as showing the highest number of calls reporting violent crime.”

He said Gov. Mike DeWine “directed the Ohio Department of Public Safety and Ohio State Highway Patrol to provide resources to local agencies for multi-agency resources, which were requested by Youngstown.

“Last year’s initiative was effective because of teamwork with all agencies involved,” Waddell said. He said that throughout the summer and beyond, troopers throughout the Warren District, aircraft to “watch for violent crimes in progress from the air and assisting in both vehicle and foot pursuits, investigative services to investigate criminal cases and processing of evidence.”

The Ohio Investigative Unit will investigate crimes related to alcohol, firearms and human trafficking.”

Wadell said during last year’s initiative, 723 traffic stops were made, 35 criminal arrests were made, 29 of those felonies; 25 drug cases, 22 of which were felonies; one recovered stolen vehicle and 80 illegal weapons cases; six felony warrant arrests.

Seven people were referred to drug treatment last year, he said, noting “That has been a focus of the Highway Patrol for the last couple of years, and that is something we are going to continue to do,” Waddell said. “Once we get them into treatment, they kind of get out of that cycle.”