Purzycki Announces Actions Against Shootings

Filed in Delaware by on January 17, 2017

Mayor Mike Purzycki and Police Chief Bobby Cumming announced on Monday a step-up in police actions in Wilmington to combat the uptick in shootings in Wilmington.

Purzycki said, “What has been happening over the last few weeks would border on the unbelievable if it were not so real, disturbing, disappointing and unacceptable.”

Effective immediately, the Mayor and Chief said the City police department will take actions that include:

  • Implementing an anti-violence police overtime strategy to deploy additional police patrols in cars and on foot in higher crime areas of the city because all of the recent incidents have occurred in known ‘hot spots’ for high crime based on daily police analysis of criminal activity

  • Increasing actions by the WPD’s Safe Streets and DISRUPT units to focus on possible suspects that have been developed as having a role in or knowing of information about the current rash of incidents

  • Increasing City police contacts with citizens in the affected areas of the City to seek cooperation in developing additional leads in these recent cases and assistance in removing guns from persons prohibited from carrying a firearm

  • Enhancing the WPD’s ongoing relationships with the New Castle County and State Police to develop additional intelligence from the partner agencies in the course of their work in their respective jurisdictions

The News Journal reported:

The city has overtime funding available immediately, said John Rago, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff for policy and communications. Moving forward, the city will have to assess if it is sustainable, he said.

Rago declined to say how many officers would be assigned to the new overtime shifts.

It is nice to see the mayor so engaged. He went on to say:

“In the two weeks that I have been Mayor, the police reports regarding these recent incidents have made me even more keenly aware that time is of the essence to make changes in our city because there are people among us who are out to destroy themselves and think nothing of harming others.”

Shortly after the press conference, there was another shooting in Wilmington. Purzycki, even though he wanted this job, has a lot of work to do.

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  1. RE Vanella says:
    January 17, 2017 at 8:39 am

    Unfortunately more concentrations of police isn’t really the answer. Purzycki knows this too. But he needed to do something now and he’s doing it.

    If someone wants to peel off a few rounds at somebody in street because of an old beef or a bad business transaction or some other transgression of the code of the neighborhood that’s just how it’s going to go. It seems to me that putting two or three extra patrols in the Northeast or Quaker Hill or wherever doesn’t deter the type of activity that’s the actual problem.

    It’s early days for Mayor Mike. Let’s see what else BPG has up their sleeves.

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