THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080504
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Community activists are calling on city residents to form a coalition against crime that would use information to attack problems at their roots.
Paul Bryant, director of the Upward Bound program at Elizabeth City State University and a regular participant in public policy debates, said the proposal will be discussed at a meeting at 7 p.m. today at Knobbs Creek Recreation Center.
The idea focuses on uniting community elements into one anti-crime coalition.
``To date, no one has successfully linked programs together in an effort to curb crime from a point of its holistic origin,'' reads a statement Bryant prepared for the meeting.
``Young men and women, along with public officials, representatives of law enforcement agencies, grass-roots community leaders and individuals from nonprofit and business communities must come together as peers with a sense of shared responsibility.''
Bryant first called for the meeting Nov. 2 during a forum sponsored by the Governor's Crime Commission. But organizers have scaled back expectations for the first meeting, Bryant said.
Police Chief H.L. Bunch said Thursday that he had not heard anything about the meeting.
``Everybody's going to have to be in a consensus of what needs to go on,'' Bryant said. Tonight's meeting, he said, ``is just getting it out there and starting a dialogue over the holidays.''
The proposal includes calls for stepped-up community policing efforts, an inter-agency networking system, evaluation of existing anti-crime programs, and close analysis of crime and social data to decide what areas of the city need to be targeted for various programs. by CNB