We caught up with the Lima police chief to take a look back and reflect on how 2019 has gone for the police department.
The city saw six homicides this year, one more than the average the city has had the last few years. Four cases remain unsolved. Chief Kevin Martin said it's concerning there's been an uptick in violent crime this year. But he says patrolmen have worked hard to monitor high volume crime areas and detectives put in overtime to solve many of those crimes. Martin is proud of efforts to engage positively with the community. "Coffee with a Cop" has expanded and they added activities like the spaghetti dinner.
"Certainly it helps us to build those relationships to build those partnerships within the community," Martin said. "So that people will trust us more and when they need help they'll come to us. When they have information they're more willing to share the information with us. So, truthfully in the long run it helps us to solve more crime."
Looking forward to improving, Martin adds he hopes they find ways to bring the violent crime numbers down.
"We are continuing to evaluate the types of crimes that have been occurring, there locations," Martin said. "And trying to look for ways to get out in front of them with some long-term problem solving. Because as much as we want to solve crime after it's happened we'd much rather prevent it from occurring in the first place."
Martin said he's proud of the work LPD has done this year to serve Lima.
