Thursday, March 7th, 2013 @ 1:39PM

March 7, 2013
Omaha World-Herald

Today: What is Omaha’s next move to help cut crime?

BRAD ASHFORD

I will work to develop strategies to address street violence. I will work with law enforcement and the community to stop retaliatory gang violence. I will support efforts to encourage the safe storage of weapons. I will work with law enforcement and the county attorney on prosecution of gang leaders who entice others to join gangs.

DAVE NABITY

The majority of the crime in Omaha is committed by people involved in gangs and drugs.
We must make it clear to them they can stop their lives of crime, or we will do all we can to arrest, convict and incarcerate them for as long as possible. We must develop trust between the police and residents in high-crime areas.

JEAN STOTHERT

We must get to the root of crime to start addressing the issue head on. Keeping kids in school will help keep them away from a life of crime. We must develop a true community policing approach that takes cops into the community. We must make sure we have enough active police officers to address crime across the city.

JIM SUTTLE

We are making great progress in targeting gang and gun violence in our city. Additional efforts include truancy intervention, after-school programs and summer youth jobs and stepped-up enforcement to curtail criminal activity, address nuisance tenants and problem landlords. We need common-sense gun measures that target dangerous weapons in the hands of dangerous people.

DAN WELCH

First is a commitment to change a culture of poverty, fatherlessness and crime. We must have a strategy to curb violent crime now, including getting guns off of Omaha’s streets, and giving law enforcement the tools they need to make arrests and get convictions that will also take gang members and their associates off the streets.

The candidates’ full answers, of 100 words or fewer, will appear on omaha.com/mayorguide.

Posted by Ashford for Mayor
Categories: Issues, News Stories, Public Safety