Office of Violence Prevention aims to eventually deter violent crimes, after a slew of them in recent weeks
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- City leaders said behind the scenes, they are constantly strategizing to find a solution to tackle violence in Columbus.
Mayor Andrew Ginther announced the creation of a new office, called the Office of Violence Prevention, last Monday.
Since the newly-formed office was announced a little less than two weeks ago -- according to NBC4 coverage -- there have been at least two fatal shootings, at least nine non-fatal shootings and one fatal stabbing in Columbus.
Office of Violence Prevention Director Rena Shak said she took the role to play a part in decreasing violent incidents in Columbus.
“This is going to be a marathon. It’s not going to be a sprint,” Shak said.
When asked whether these incidents changed the direction of her plans, Shak said they did not.
“I would say it hasn’t really changed the way that we are strategizing the role that this office is going to play,” Shak said. “I would love to be able to snap my fingers and effect rates of violence overnight, but I just don’t think that is realistic, and so we are really dedicated to doing the work whether that takes a year, two years or three years.”
One violent incident is too many, Shak said, but recent homicides and other incidents since she started gives her more motivation to work to fix the problem.
Right now, she said her attention remains on gathering and forming relationships with the people in the community.
“Our first focus is going to be figuring out exactly what the landscape looks like here in Columbus for our anti-violence programming, and then serving as a coordination piece,” Shak said. “I plan to hopefully -- once we are up and running, whether it is this year, next year -- have both a juvenile community outreach position as well as an adult community outreach position.”
In 2023, the city is also putting record amounts of money toward juvenile programming and employment in an effort to steer kids involved with crime toward a positive outlet, Shak said.