TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tampa’s new police chief, Mary O’Connor, addressed gun violence at a community forum Monday night.
The forum took place at the Tampa Education Center at St. Leo University. This was the third forum being held to address the issue. The first two meetings were led by Ruben Delgado, who served as interim police chief.
Chief O’Connor addressed what the department is doing and new initiatives being put in place to help combat the problem.
Tampa police are still searching for solutions to gun violence in the city. There have been 10 homicides in Tampa this year. There were 48 in 2021.
Manuel Rivera’s son Nadji was shot and killed August 28th in East Tampa. The 21-year-old graduated from King High School, and had his own business at 18.
Six months after he was killed, there have been no arrests made. Monday night, he pleaded with Tampa’s new police chief and the department to find his son’s murderer.
“It’s an unfortunate situation, never thought I would be going through this, my only son, I have no other kids,” Rivera said. “I want answers, I need answers now, Tampa Police has not given me answers.”
Chief O’Connor says what she took away from Monday’s forum is that officers have to engage more with the community.
“Having the officers get out of their cars and have meaningful face to face conversations with the community they serve,” O’Connor said.
City Council still has not confirmed O’Connor as chief. She says that won’t stop her from working with the community to find solutions.
“I’m ready to go to work today, to implement these ideas this community needs to get done to prevent and solve this gun violence,” O’Connor said.
Parents like Rivera hope things change with a new chief, sooner, rather than later.
“I just want justice for my son, your son, all the parents who have lost children, this has to stop, we need to do something,” Rivera said. “As a father, we got to do something.”
Earlier this month, Delgado said violent crime was down 10% in the last four months, and officers responded to 15 fewer shootings this January compared to last January.
He said the department still wants ideas from the community. They’ll take those ideas and create an action plan to combat the problem.
“One shooting affects a family, they don’t want to hear about 10% reduction rate, so there’s still work to do,” Delgado said.
Interim Chief Delgado said the forums help, but they still would like more people to come to them if they know anything about a particular crime.
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