COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - After a sharp increase in gun violence, often committed by the same people with the same guns, the police chief in South Carolina largest city is announcing a different approach to cracking down on crime and weapons.
Detectives will combine crime data analysis and old-fashioned police work to identify and track the Columbia area’s most prolific violent offenders, and partner with Richland County deputies to crack down on these people, about ten of them at a time, Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said Tuesday.
“We’re going to make sure they don’t spit on the sidewalk. And if they break the law, we are going to be there to catch them,” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said.
Residents can help. The chief and sheriff both said that many of the guns used in these shootings are stolen out of vehicles.
“When you get home at night, don’t leave your pistol in your car,” Lott said. “We have hoodlums who go around to neighborhoods and break into cars and steal guns.”
Holbrook approached Lott about the task force after discovering Columbia had 59 gun incidents from January to March with 19 people wounded and five killed. Everyone shot was African-American, and ballistics tests showed that about half the shootings were done with a weapon used in a previous shooting.
The two jurisdictions intertwine, so it makes sense to work together, Holbrook said.
Task force members also will pay attention to places where shootings are more likely to happen, and where the targets spend their time, Holbrook said.
“We’re focusing on where people live and sleep and who they hang out with,” the chief said.
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