LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Mayor Linda Gorton and Chief Lawrence Weathers have announced plans for a new initiative to address violent crime in Lexington.
The press conference comes after a double homicide over the weekend in which two 18-year-olds were shot and killed in downtown Lexington.
This "Safety Net" initiative is designed to reduce violent crime and to reduce the potential the potential for young people to fall into a life of violent crime. One Lexington, which assists community efforts to address violent crime, is weaving together a Safety Net that involves neighbors, the Public Safety community, the faith community, Social Services and other community partners.
“Those partners will take the next step to address gun violence by working directly with high risk households,” Gorton said. “Police will take a simple message into the neighborhoods: risky, threatening behavior often leads to gun violence and even death. This is preventable and it has to stop. We have the community resources to help, and Safety Net will bring them to our citizens. We all need to work together.”
Police Chief Lawrence Weathers says that in most cases, violence often starts with threats made to someone. Weathers wants to encourage tipsters to anonymously report threats they have heard or seen on social media.
Safety Net will complement Project Safe Neighborhoods, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative in which federal, state and local partners focus law enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders. The operation will begin by the end of the year.
