THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160405
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
When members of Gov. George Allen's welfare task force held public hearings, they found the No. 1 concern was not getting people off welfare but helping them get away from crime.
``We were surprised. . . . The No. 1 issue was public safety,'' said Public Safety Secretary Jerry Kilgore.
Tuesday, the welfare group's crime-prevention panel recommended eight ways to curb crime, primarily through local efforts funded with the $700 million in state and federal grants spent annually on crime prevention in Virginia.
``No one program is going to prevent all the crime,'' Kilgore said in an interview. ``Each community is going to have to develop their own strategy.''
The eight goals are: increasing community involvement, enhancing school and youth safety, punishing serious juvenile offenders, supporting police, strengthening building safety, cutting workplace violence, improving travel safety and increasing cooperation between governments.
Kilgore said localities could carry out the goals by organizing neighborhood watches, supporting police and encouraging the media to get more involved in crime prevention efforts. by CNB