GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A Green Bay alder is saying enough is enough when it comes to gun violence in the city. That’s why he’s proposing a task force be created to help come up with solutions for the ongoing problem.
After two shootings in one week, leaving bullet holes in the windows of a Green Bay home on Hubbard Street, city alder Brian Johnson wants to find solutions to respond to this increase in gun violence.
“People are unsettled in their neighborhoods and it’s our job as elected officials to really calm those fears and provide solutions to the problem and that’s what I’m looking to do,” said Johnson.
That’s why Johnson is proposing the city create a “gun violence task force.”
“We have to really get at the heart of what’s happening, right? In some instances they’re systemic problems, in others they’re transient problems, so we really need to have everybody represented at the table to really address all the different reasons these shootings are happening so the solutions and response is appropriate,” said Johnson.
It’s a problem Green BaypPolice are all too familiar with, as they told FOX 11 in an interview in late October.
“We are still seeing what to us is an unusually high volume of calls involving guns, involving shots fired, involving people threatened with fire arms and those kinds of things,” said Green Bay chief of police Chris Johnson.
Green Bay Police were unavailable for an on-camera interview Friday evening, but tell FOX 11 they welcome the idea of a “gun violence task force,” and that Chief Chris Davis and Mayor Eric Genrich’s office are working on a “comprehensive gun violence reduction plan.” Including assigning officers to more permanent gun violence reduction assignments. Davis is also making requests to use American Rescue Plan Action (ARPA) funding to help.
“I think it’s important to recognize task forces in of themselves are not solutions,” said Johnson. “Task forces gather information and make recommendations then it’s upon the elected body to act on those recommendations.”
Johnson will be submitting an item to the City’s Protection and Policy committee to further discuss the creation of a “gun violence task force.”
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