Ohio State sophomore Jami Taylor was driving home on a Sunday afternoon when she was shot in the chin while stopped at the intersection of East 11th Avenue and North Fourth Street.”I jumped out of my car and started screaming,” Taylor said. “But nobody would help me.”She went into a nearby carry-out to call an ambulance. She said the store owner gave her a paper towel and told her to get out of his place because she was bleeding on the floor. After she went outside, two women finally stopped to help.Taylor was only grazed and received several stitches. She believes people didn’t help because they’re probably used to violence in the neighborhood.”I won’t even drive though that area anymore,” she said.The bullet that hit Taylor came from the back yard of a nearby house. The police charged Jerez Portis, 16, in the shooting. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Portis has a previous record including receiving property stolen from an OSU building and dorm room when he was 12.Last Thursday, Judge Susan Brown decided there was reason to believe Taylor suffered physical harm, the first step in determining whether Portis can be tried as an adult. Trying juvenile criminals as adults is part of a strategic approach to crack down on crime in the Weinland Park area, said Paul Denton, commander for the Columbus Division of Police in charge of the northwest zone, which includes the neighborhood where Taylor was shot.Weinland Park is the area southeast of campus. The Weinland Park Community Collaborative defines Weinland Park as bordered by Chittenden Avenue, Grant Avenue, North High Street and East Fifth Avenue.Katie French, a senior majoring in biology, moved from Chittenden after her sophomore year. She said she knew the neighborhood had a bad reputation, but was surprised by the boldness of criminals.”My car was broken into twice when I lived there,” French said. “One of the times I was getting ready to go to work in the middle of the afternoon when my roommate said my car door was open. I thought she meant it was unlocked, but then I saw this dude getting out of my car.”She said the thief wasn’t able to steal anything, and ran away down an alley. She said four other cars were broken into that night.With an average of five murders a year, parents wouldn’t let their children play outside in Weinland Park in the early 1990s, said Craig Jaynes, president of the collaborative. Gangs like the Short North Posse caused parents to be fearful, but Jaynes said a 1995 police sweep resulted in the breakup of the gang and no murders occurred that year.After dropping significantly in 1995, crime in the Weinland Park area is again rising. Burglary, larceny, property destruction and drug abuse arrests have all increased more than two-fold since 1995 in Weinland Park and its vicinity, according to statistics kept by the Columbus police.Increased crime has led law enforcement and community groups to go to the Justice Department for grants. Columbus police are asking the department for money to continue efforts which began with the 1995 sweep.”All of urban America – and its challenges – can be encapsulated in Weinland Park,” said Steve Sterrett, spokesman for Campus Partners.
Short North Posse sweep In March 1995, the Columbus police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Attorney’s office served 46 arrest warrants to individuals thought to be in association with the Short North Posse and involved in gun and drug trafficking, according to Fred Alverson, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. Of the 46 arrested, Alverson said 45 were convicted to terms of seven to 44 years in prison. He praised the effort as a major blow to organized crime, but some community activists question its impact.”It was a blown-out exaggeration,” said Anne Pussel, a member of the police watchdog group Copwatch. “I knew some of the young men arrested. It didn’t make any sense.” Alverson met with members of the collaborative, the U.S. Marshall’s office and Columbus police a few months ago to evaluate the current status of crime in the area. Because of past successes with crime sweeps, he suggested applying for justice department funding to run another operation.If approved, the U. S. Marshall’s Office and Columbus police would receive $25,000 to run a sweep of the area to catch fugitive felons. The money comes from a Justice Department fund of seized assets and would pay for training, supplies and overtime pay, he said.Pussel said she feels police are acting like an occupying army in the area.”It only results in making people more paranoid,” she said.
A hotbed of crime
The Weinland Park area has the highest number of gun offenses in the zone, Denton said, and an overall higher crime rate than most parts of the zone.”Weinland Park had one of the highest violent crime rates in the city in the early to mid ’90s,” Sterrett said. “It settled down a good deal, but crime remains a concern.” The police define the Weinland Park area and vicinity as north to East 17th Avenue and south to East First Avenue between Summit Street and the Conrail railroad tracks. Crime reports in the zone rose from 1995 to 1996 in all 11 categories the Columbus police track. Every category except murder either rose or stayed the same from 1996 to 1997.”It could be that residents are more confident in police,” Denton said. “The relationship is better, so they’re more apt to report crimes.”Property damage rose the most significantly from 39 reports in 1995 to 149 reports in 1997. Burglary and larceny both more than doubled and drug abuse arrests were four times as high.”For every drug dealer you arrest, 10 take their place,” said Lt. David Ruddock, second-shift watch commander in the district.
Connecting to the community
The Weinland Park Community Collaborative was formed in the same year as the Short North Posse breakup. The organization began with block patrols and community education programs before receiving Justice Department money, said Lisa Chambers, community services coordinator for the collaborative.They held regular meetings with Columbus police officers to improve the relationship between police and the community. That spurred the formation of the “Weinland Park Special,” officers dedicated exclusively to that community, she said.”To residents it was the true essence of community policing,” she said.For several months, including all last summer, 12 officers backed up cruiser patrols in the area, Ruddock said. Embracing the “broken windows theory,” he said the officers dealt with even minor violations contributing to the bigger crime picture.”For problems with health violations, trash pick-up, code violations, or landlords, we let residents know who to contact for help,” he said. “We let people know we are watching.”The Weinland Park Special spent time out of the car and getting acquainted with people in order to develop relationships with residents. Chambers said in the past many residents viewed the police as an unapproachable entity, but now they are able to form an open relationship. “Residents had told me that all the police looked the same,” she said. “When residents know the police, it makes it easier to trust them.”Denton said officers are no longer exclusively assigned to the area. He said limited resources caused the change, but hopes officers can be specifically assigned to the area again this year.”We have a limited pool of officers,” he said. “When you assign officers to just one place, it takes them away from other parts of town.”With less manpower needed in the south campus area because of the dwindling number and popularity of the bars there, police are looking at better ways to distribute officers, Sterrett said. Denton said officers are already being moved to foot patrols and he is looking at redefining their mission to a neighborhood function.The collaborative wants residents to be more active in helping police. Brian Hitchcock coordinates its phone circles program, which stresses residents should call police when they see a crime or a potential one. “We let them know the i
nformation they need when calling so they can be more proactive,” Hitchcock said.He said a leader is named for each block to act as a contact person with police. The program allows for a quick, efficient way to distribute information, he said.The university district has a police community liaison to find out the concerns and problems of the area and express them to police, said Sgt. Earl Smith, who heads the community liaison program for the Columbus police. The former liaison, Jason Jackson, left the job several months ago and Smith said he’s currently in the process of interviewing new candidates.Pussel said she’s noticed an increased police presence in the area during her Copwatch patrols and it amounts to little more than intimidation. “People in that area don’t find police to be friendly community liaisons,” she said.Fellow Copwatch member Chris Wisniewski believes increasing police presence has little positive effect.”It’s a cynical attempt to avoid dealing with the problems of that area honestly,” he said.
Next: A look at community efforts to deal with the root causes of crime.
