COLUMBUS (WCMH) – A community united at the Reeb Center Auditorium.  Mayor Andrew Ginther addressed neighborhood concerns.

“Tonight was all about neighborhood safety. So we talked about everything from a comprehensive neighborhood base safety strategy, to police-community relations,” said Ginther.

This comes after a record-breaking year of homicides in 2017.  The city is still working to figure out the contributing factors.  The fraternal order of police says it doesn’t help that they are understaffed. Mayor Ginther says the city’s police department has 100 more officers than before.  He says the drug problem is the reason for the record murder rate.

“The one thing that was very clear coming away tonight is how the opioid epidemic is dramatically impacting the quality of life. The stability of families, crime, the intersection between drugs and gangs that we all know is driving that spike in homicides we had in 2017,” said Ginther

Ginther also arranged for a panel of experts to speak. Erin Synk said this is what the community needs.

“I think ts a great dialogue to be happening here in the communities. I think it’s great that it’s, you know, traveling around to different communities,’ said Synk.

Doctor Shenelle Jones said she agreed with a lot of the talking points from the panel.

“I specifically liked the reentry efforts that are being implemented, specifically though Alvis. A couple other things. The mentoring programs though Columbus city schools,” said Jones.

The issues talked about at the meeting are not going to fix themselves overnight but mayor Ginther says addressing them is the first step.

“Prevention and education.  Traumatic expansion of treatment and interact with law enforcement to see how we handle and approach these things differently in the future,” said Ginther.