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GRPD: 'Operation Safe Neighborhoods' is working

Associated Press

 

 

Grand Rapids Police Officials say the launch of a new policing strategy over the weekend proved to be a massive success, as the department made multiple arrests and confiscated a number of weapons.

The Grand Rapids Police Department says the successful deployment of “Operation: Safe Neighborhoods” is just the beginning in Chief Eric Payne’s goal of becoming the “safest mid-sized city in the US.” A relatively new program that launched last year, police say that “Operation Safe Neighborhoods, which effectively increases the number of patrol officers in various high crime areas, and during hours of the day when crimes typically occur, resulted in  19 Arrests over the weekend, including 5 felonies.

Meanwhile, the GRPD says it recovered 4 firearms, 2 stolen vehicles, and confiscated significant amounts of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.

Grand Rapids experienced an unprecedented level of violent crime in 2020, as the city set the record for the most homicides in a single year; department officials say,  and the GRPD is dedicated to ensuring those numbers do not become a trend in the city, and operation safe neighborhoods is part of that effort.