Dozens of volunteers fanned out over Tallahassee's Griffin Heights and Frenchtown neighborhoods Saturday (10/28) morning. It was part of a coordinated effort to improve public safety in those areas.
The 80 volunteers were on the lookout for anything that might be considered a health, safety, or potential crime issue. Florida A&M Graduate Student Stephanie Colter found one trouble spot a few blocks from Griffin Middle School.
"Right next to the water tower that belongs to the City," she noted. "I know they have to drive by it to get to the water tower, but there's massive trash building up right next to it and nobody's moved it, changed it or anything."
Although her school colleague Casey Brown noted the neighborhood was otherwise well maintained.
"You would think that you would see a whole lot of trash and debris, but we've seen a lot of well-maintained houses," she said.
Tallahassee Police Chief Mike DeLeo sees the Neighborhood Public Safety Inititiative as critical to addressing crime.
"We can go out and we can identify and deal with a crime issue today and maybe make an arrest and resolve that issue for today,but if the community doesn't fill that void with something positive, sometimes that just creates another business opportunity for maybe another criminal."
Saturday's assessment was sponsored by the local Public Safety Collective.
