City of Wilmington – Violent Crime Strategy

We must address the escalation of violence in the City of Wilmington, we need to do it together and we need to do it now. As the founder and senior pastor of one the largest congregations in this region, I have seen first-hand the devastation and destruction violence on our streets causes family members and the community at large. As President of County Council, I have been frustrated by the drama and petty squabbles that distract us from mission critical issues like this. We need to come together as a City, County, State and community to address the immediate need of making our City safe again. Like many others in the community, I want to continue the important conversations related to systemic problems in the City, including better access to job opportunities, a quality education, healthcare, drug treatment and mental health services. However, if we don’t address the pressing problem of violence in our neighborhoods now, efforts to provide better access to these services and opportunities will be futile. Simply put, if the people that create those jobs or provide those services don’t feel safe, they won’t do it. We must take immediate steps to eliminate the impetus for the label “murder town” in the short-term and implement longer term plans to make sure our City never earns such a dubious banner again. To do that, I am convinced as someone who lives and works in this community, there are a small number of people that are responsible for a large portion of the violence. Most of these people are already known to law enforcement and the community. We need to focus on this with intensity and purpose. To do so, we need to have a separate, stand-alone group of law enforcement officers that include officers from the Wilmington Police Department, New Castle County Police Department, Delaware State Police, Adult Probation and Parole and Juvenile Probation and Parole. Let’s pull together our best and brightest officers to form a team to focus on what is our State’s most pressing issue. There is historic precedent for such efforts and while this unit should coordinate and communicate with existing agencies having jurisdiction in the City, the team should bring together the various disciplines under a single command with exclusive focus on targeting those individuals who are perpetrating violent crime in the City of Wilmington. The Attorney General’s office should play a key role in this to ensure the full prosecutorial resources of the Department of Justice are focused on this issue. We also need the Delaware General Assembly, New Castle County Council and City Council to come together and provide the necessary resources and support to ensure the success of this effort. Working with the community, we recapture our neighborhoods with these efforts and we then can focus on the long-term solutions that will ensure we are never again faced with such dire circumstances. It is time to focus on the important issues. We can do this. It is time to come together and solve this problem. Dr. Christopher A. Bullock President, New Castle County Council Pastor, Canaan Baptist Church of New Castle