- There were five homicides in 2022 and that number reduced to three homicides in 2023.
- Local mentors are working to partner with officers more in 2024 in hopes that children will have opportunities to get positive interactions with local police.
- Watch the story to learn how officers connecting with our youth works to reduce crime for the next generation of Bainbridge.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Continuing to bring down numbers when it comes to crime..
I previously reported how violent crimes have decreased in Bainbridge this past year…
Now I'm finding out how the department plans to continue to lowing those numbers by
reaching younger people..
"We do not need any more shootings. We don't need anymore of our children killed. And we don't need any more of our children going to prison,” said Barbara Mcduffie, board of directors, 1 on 1 Mentoring.
The program works with schools in Decatur County to connect with children through mentorship, STEM programs and occasional activities.
McDuffie said community partnerships are virtual.
"We need assistance from all phases of our community,” according to Mcduffie.
The organization partners with Bainbridge Public Safety and local volunteers. But mentorship leaders say more connections with law enforcement would be even better so kids can have positive connections with local police.
"Their perception of who law enforcement [is and ] how they can help them is not the reality of where it needs to be,” said Mcduffie.
Captain Charles Strickland works with Bainbridge Public Safety.
He grew up in the area and says community policing helps to humanize those behind the badge.
SOT:
"We're no robots. We're not out here to get anybody,” said Strickland.
There were five homicides in 2022 and that number reduced to three homicides in 2023.
He said working with neighboring agencies like the Decatur county sheriff's office has helped bring down violent crime rates.
" Their investigators and our investigators both together – you're talking over 100 years of law enforcement experience,” according to Strickland.
The captain says he has experience working with children prior to becoming an officer and saw first hand how youth he's worked with in the past at a YMCA camp ultimately ended up as juveniles under arrest.
He quickly learned the importance of community policing. He says it's as simply as–
"Just by simply getting out of your car and talking to people,” said. Strickland.
Strickland tells me the department is working to grow in numbers this year in an effort to increase safety in the city.
