MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — It was a packed house inside Middletown City Hall Tuesday night as city officials and community leaders discussed how they could address recent violence, including an apparent road rage turned fatal shooting last April.
"We are going to look around the country and see some of the best practices that are out there," said Paul Lolli, Middletown City Manager. "It's courage that counts ... we need neighborhoods to step up, we need community members to step up."
Verlena Stewart, executive director of Community Building Institute, said she fears the violence could feel normal for some.
"Some of our kids are waking up and they wake up to a gun on the table, it's normal, they think this is not a weird thing," Stewart said.
A common theme during Tuesday night's town hall was building better relationships with young people. Lolli suggested creating a task force where law enforcement, the courts, school districts and community come together and figure out a path forward to solve gun violence.
"It's personal for me," Stewart said. "I had a nephew that was shot down, he was murdered, I had a former employee who was shot down who served at the community center, I had a youth that we worked with at the community center who unfortunately found himself caught up in some of the violence."
"Some of these same individuals are wreaking havoc not just in Middletown ... I'm a firm believer, if you see something, say something," said Kimberly Silas. "We do have to start with the youth."
Silas told us about her nephew, Benjamin Barfield, who died in December 2018 after someone shot and killed him outside of his home on 9th and Yankee. To this day, no one has been charged with his murder.
"These individuals need to be taken off the street permanently," Silas said.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones also spoke about another barrier.
"People are afraid because the police can't live in your community," Jones said. "They go away, you're still there, and these people sometimes, they'll come back and kill you and everybody's scared, it's a Catch-22, we're all in it together."
Jones also talked about the Butler County Jail being at capacity.
"We can't build enough jails and lock them all up," added Jones. "It's like squeezing a balloon, you'll squeeze the air out of it and then they'll go somewhere else, but you don't want them here."
Some suggested the city hire more police officers and patrolling some of the common areas where some of the shootings occurred. However, Deputy Police Chief Earl Nelson talked about how all of the recent shootings have been widespread across the city.
"In a short period of time, we've had some major incidents of gun violence," said Nelson.
During Nelson's presentation, Middletown had 36 shots fired calls in May 2023, compared to 33 shots fired calls this month. While the numbers are statistically down, they still feel the calls for service are alarming.
"We need your help now, we got to have the involvement, we've got to have the cooperation," said Andy Warrick, acting Middletown police chief.
Staffing and retention of police officers were a concern of council members during a special meeting last week to take a preliminary look at the city 2025 budget.
The division of police currently has an authorized force of 80 officers. But the force currently has 75 officers with seven in academy training, which takes months to complete. Then they are assigned to a training officer before patrolling alone, according to police and city officials.
“We are probably about 10 short,” said Lolli.
Retention is a challenge and may require more financial resources in the form of pay raises.
The city will also have to identify as it grows, especially in the East End, “exactly how many police officers are we going to need, exactly how many firefighters are we going to need within the next five years,” Lolli said.
He estimated the city will need a police force of “at least 90 police officers in the next five years without a doubt.”
Councilman Steve West II called the uptick in crime early into the warm weather months not only violent but “brash.”
Looking at making significant investments in technology and non-traditional measures, such as additional Flock cameras, is also needed outside of an additional headcount of officers, according to West.
“Because ... if they are going to shoot each other up, it is going to be a problem,” West said.
Mayor Elizabeth Slamka said after talking with residents and officers, there is a need for more officers and speeding is a concern for many residents.
“Traffic officers is something I have been thinking about,” Slamka said.
Both council members Zack Ferrell and Paul Horn supported investment in public safety with officers but also technology to up the crime fighting techniques.
Ferrell said nuisance abatement in neighborhoods might make it less attractive to criminals coming into the city.
“Is it an attractive city for crime?” Ferrell said. “What can we do outside of traditional policing to get this city to a point where we hold our head high?”
Lolli called the issue “fluid” with a need for a two-pronged approach.
“Sometimes it is not about having more police officers or more firefighters. We really need to look at the technology that will be just as effective as more boots on the streets, but without a doubt we need boots on the street,” he said.
On May 17, occupants of vehicles on Roosevelt Boulevard were involved in a disturbance during the early morning hours with shots fired. A female was dropped off at the hospital minutes later with a gunshot wound, and the driver of one of the cars then wrecked when he hit a pole. One arrest has been made and a warrant is out for the arrest for another suspect who is on the run, according to police.
A 19-year-old man was killed early on the morning of May 12 on Sheffield Street in a drive-by shooting that injured two others. Shots were also reported fired the same night on Shafor Street and Central Avenue. No arrest has been made.
On April 16, a 26-year-old man was killed in an apparent road rage incident in the city’s downtown. No charges have been filed yet.
On April 14, two people were shot in the legs at Middletown’s Douglass Park on Minnesota Street. The case is still under investigation.
At the conclusion of Tuesday night's town hall, Lolli said the city is planning on hosting quarterly town halls. The next one is happening Sept. 24 at 5:30 p.m.
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