YOUNGSTOWN — Call it what you want, but the key term for the crime-fighting initiative Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, Police Chief Carl Davis and others announced Tuesday is “Impact.”

The mayor told a room full of law enforcement officers from the Youngstown Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, FBI and Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office thank you for several years worth of extra effort to reduce violent crime in Youngstown through stepped-up enforcement called Project Impact.

The mayor and several other officials spoke at a news conference at the Youngstown Police Department on Tuesday to announce the reintroduction of a crime-fighting tool that brings the Ohio State Highway Patrol and other agencies into the city to root out criminal conduct in areas seemingly prone to such activity.

The mayor said the initiative has been “talked about across the state. Often I talk to some of my colleagues and mayors around Ohio and they want to know what are you doing in Youngstown? I say we’re learning how to play with our partners and learning how to work together,” he said.

“And it’s making a big difference. I can honestly tell you, I can tell over the past couple of years, we are seeing a significant decrease in our crimes. But, we’re also seeing a significant increase in our partnership and communication with various agencies. I like to see that because that’s how you win the game, as a team. You can’t do it individually.”

Davis recalled that in June of 2021, he and the mayor attended a meeting in Columbus with Gov. Mike DeWine involving mayors and police chiefs from across the state to talk about “the increasing crime rate and the reduced workforce that many cities in Ohio were experiencing at that time.”

Several months later, Youngstown announced “what we called the Impact Initiative that consisted of a team of Ohio State Highway Patrol officers, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority, the Ohio Investigative Unit, the FBI and Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department” to reduce crime in areas experiencing crime problems, especially gun violence.

“This initiative over the last few years has been successful in removing weapons, drugs and those individuals committing these crimes off of the streets,” Davis said.

This partnership has helped transform Youngstown into a model city for crime prevention by leveraging the expertise of the Ohio State Highway Patrol” to implement innovative strategies. Davis said he believes this “Impact Initiative will serve as a beacon of hope and inspire other communities to combat crime.”

Sheriff Jerry Greene said initiatives like this have helped offset the challenges law enforcement has faced in trying to keep their departments fully staffed with officers. “You need to target the areas where the crime is. That’s how you reduce it,” he said.

Green added it’s great to have a good working relationship with all of the other agencies.

Lt. Ray Santiago, head of the public information office of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, looked out at the dozens of officers attending and said “All of us are going to be conducting a local saturation or service impact initiative throughout the spring, summer and into the fall. It will be data-driven and focus on areas identified statistically showing the highest number of reported calls for violent crime.”

He said it is the “latest saturation event in coordination and partnership with the governor’s office,” saying last year’s effort involved troopers “throughout the Warren District, our aviation assets will assist ground units by watching for violent crimes while they are in progress and assisting from the air with foot and vehicle pursuits.”

Santiago continued by saying investigators with the patrol’s Office of Investigative Services will assist in investigating crimes and processing evidence. Agents with the Ohio Investigative Unit will investigate crimes involving alcohol, firearms and human trafficking.

In last year’s partnership, the Patrol conducted nearly 500 traffic stops, making 47 criminal arrests, 35 drug cases were initiated, troopers recovered five stolen vehicles and initiated 11 weapons cases.

Seventeen people were referred to addiction treatment services. “Part of these initiatives is getting to the root causes of these problems and being able to help those that are combating addiction” and helping them get treatment.

Crime statistics provided to the Vindicator by the Youngstown Police Department’s crime analyst, Julie Orto, in August showed that the number of times drug charges were filed in Youngstown steadily rose from 86 in the second half of 2021 to 188 during the first half of 2023. Violent crime during that same time period dropped from 179 to 109.

Have an interesting story? Email Ed Runyan at erunyan@vindy.com.