TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo City Council member Tiffany Preston Whitman discussed a pair of proposals Tuesday to improve how city administration communicates crime reduction efforts to council.
The proposals call for the mayor's office to submit an annual comprehensive public safety plan and a biannual crime reduction report, both of which council would make available to the public in an effort to increase public trust and show that the city has clear and defined goals.
The annual public safety report would require the mayor's office to work with all of its public safety departments, including the Toledo Police Department, Toledo Fire & Rescue Department, the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department and the court system.
The group effort would then set measurable and attainable goals as part of an actionable plan within 60 days of the new year.
The crime report would follow a similar pattern, but biannually. Leaders would establish clear crime reduction goals and offer more transparency on crime stats.
Whitman said in order to form city-wide crime reduction plans, departments aside from police and fire need to be involved.
"We need to bring more stakeholders in," she said. "We know, just as a city, we are not going to rid and cure all of the violence and address all of the safety needs in our community. This is actually a city-wide and community-wide effort. So hopefully, by doing this, we have other stakeholders who can help us in creating our plan."
And with both plans allowing for more transparency with the public, it will hold city officials to their word.
"I think there's a higher level of accountability," Whitman said. "It helps us as council members to know what's out there and to be fair. There are a lot of initiatives that are out there, but we don't know about them and I feel like it's the same for the public. So it's definitely going to increase our level of accountability but also increase the trust we have with community members."
While the ideas are only in the proposal stage now, Whitman said her colleagues have already voiced their support and they plan to vote on the resolutions as early as next week.
If the vote passes, she expects it to be implemented this year, meaning the first comprehensive safety proposal could happen as early as 60 days from Jan. 1.