MOUNT VERNON — Councilman John Francis is serious when he talks about cracking down on crime and drug use in the city of Mount Vernon.
Working with the Mount Vernon Police Department since October, Francis’ research shows that over a 338-day span, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 4, the MVPD made 1,294 arrests. About 20 percent of the arrests were drug related.
“There’s an arrest made in Mount Vernon once every 6.2 hours,” said Francis.
Francis also analyzed the records for 911 calls. Over the same time span, the MVPD responded to 18,508 calls.
“That means the police responded to a call every 2.2 hours,” said Francis. “So they’re busy. Police and fire are great resources, but the best resource is the people who live here.”
To get a visual on the location of the arrests, Francis placed a pin on a city map. The majority of arrests took place right off of a main avenue or street. Most of the arrests were in the 2nd Ward. The largest area is Coshocton Road. One address, the Kroger Co., had more than 130 arrests.
“We take these things seriously,” he said. “A word to dealers and pushers: ‘Now I know exactly where you hang out.’”
Francis gave City Law Director Rob Broeren a list of residential addresses that have had multiple arrests and criminal activity.
“So he’s doing research, and maybe we’ll be able to crack down on landlords,” said Francis, adding that the hope is that landlords will take steps to stop illegal activity in their rentals.
“By informing landlords of criminal activity, it removes their defense if the police department moves to close the house, given they were notified of the activity,” said Broeren.
The MVPD divides the city into zones. Following are the number of arrests made between Jan. 1 and Dec. 4 and the number of the arrests that are drug related:
- Zone 1: 157 arrests, 35 drug related
- Zone 2: 115, 29
- Zone 3: 341, 63
- Zone 4: 188, 46
- Zone 5: 342, 40
- Zone 6: 18, 8
- Zone 7: 106, 20
- Zone 8: 6, 0
- Zone 9: Not provided
- Zone 10: 13,1
- Zone 11: 8, 2
