Savannah Police updating Violent Crime Reduction Plan

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Chief Minter went before council on Thursday to look specifically at the non-fatal shootings they saw in 2019.

In 2019, 128 people were shot but survived. Victims between 16 to 24 years old account for more than half of the victims in those cases.

Police say this is where their focus needs to be.

Chief Minter says they are looking at a number of options to help them reduce shootings. His department is looking at staffing, technology, community engagement and enforcement.

Council members want to be sure that the department has enough employees to overcome the challenge. Chief Minter says they are working on recruiting and have 23 recruits in the academy close to graduation.

The Chief says their research shows the shootings they are seeing are not random which impacts how they handle them.

“I don’t want people to get the impression that these are just random shootings that somebody is just riding down the street or walking down the street shooting at individuals or that it’s a situation where there’s a lack of police presence in certain areas and had we been there we may have been able to stop the shooting," said Chief Roy Minter. "A lot of times these are shootings that may be occurring in a residence, there may be a shooting that occurs between individuals having a dispute and those individuals for whatever reason decide to resolve those issues by use of a handgun.”

The Chief says they are looking at working with the community to create town halls, working alongside the faith community and other groups to help them in the future.

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