On Monday, Reverend R.B. Holmes held the first Respect Yourself Crime Prevention Task Force meeting. The goal of the meeting was to provide a list of action items that will mitigate gun violence and crime.
Holmes discussed supporting at-risk youth and their families with the help of City of Tallahassee and Leon County leaders, criminology professors from FAMU and FSU, local mental health experts, faith-based leaders, and the Tallahassee Police Department.
“We must feel that every person who was shot or killed–that could be our son, our daughter, our neighbor,” said task force chairman Reverend R.B. Holmes.
TPD Chief Lawrence Revell – who participated in the meeting – said that TPD is in need of more officers to combat violence. Revell also said he wants to hold business owners accountable for parking lot parties that have been the cause of violence.
Reverend Holmes stated that we are not anti-police and that we should pay them and encourage them.
Revell added the community needs to speak up and that “most of our commission is very supportive.”
The task force will hold its second meeting on January 24th.
This is a full list of the task force’s action items:
1. Schedule city-wide prayer services in at-risk neighborhoods where violent crime activities have taken place.
2. Support creative crime prevention programs for funding.
3. Develop “Respect Yourself Military Boot Camp” targeting at-risk youth for alternate sentencing
4. Encourage the development of Police Athletic Clubs in public housing where crime is high and there is limited quality recreational, tutoring and mentorship programs.
5. Expand the city’s highly successful TEMPO program to include more at-risk youth and collaborate with Goodwill Industries for summer employment for at-risk youth.
6. Develop, if needed, ordinances that will prevent and prohibit violence: i.e. shootings at mass gatherings.
7. Work with at-risk families to provide jobs, if needed, affordable housing, job training and mentorship programs.
8. Support boys academies and after-school programs in at-risk neighborhoods.
9. Bring concerts, mini-fares, food and clothing drives in at-risk neighborhoods on a consistent basis; replicate the city’s highly successful “Frenchtown Rising” community initiative.
10. Expand city, county and school meetings in at-risk neighborhoods to increase community awareness of how government works.
11. Encourage faith-based and community leaders to ride patrols with law enforcement in at-risk neighborhoods.
12. Provide financial incentives to recruit young men, particularly those living in marginalized neighborhoods to join the military.
13. Develop a comprehensive All Boys Academy Pre-Kindergarten through grades 1-5.
14. Establish a working partnership and collaboration with faith-based groups in particular and the Sheriff’s Status of Black Men and Boys.
15. Advocate and support law enforcement and encourage increased compensation to recruit and retain the best and most gifted police officers available.
Task Force on Gun Violence Proposes Action Items added by Steve Stewart on
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What’s really amazing is to have someone who calls himself a reverend, and even has a “church”, yet doesn’t say ONE thing about living as God calls us to live. It would certainly go far for a reverend to advise his flock to live responsible, God fearing lives, males and females. But no, Holmes seems to be only interested in feathering his own nest. You know where he lives??
Amazing reversal. These are the same voices who canceled one of TPDs most experienced supervisors two years ago. Wonder what he’s doing now.
If the “leaders” wanted to help they would be out at night when the shootings happen- telling these parking lot parties to go home. Lots of lip service and wasted money. The same people that complain about the government not doing enough… are the first ones to protest the police for “harrassing” these fine citizens.
Let me know when they are ready to address ALL violence.
Like I always say… “You will never solve a problem you refuse to recognize”
They are blinded by the world of cancel’ism and woke’ism… and truly terrified of addressing the reality of the problem.
More $$ to Bethel. More contributions to local politicians while black youth continue their downward spiral. I have seen this before. Meanwhile RB heads back every day behind the gates at Moore Pond.
Time for another non profit at the trough.
All of this is a roadmap for government to spend more money and have greater control over people’s daily lives.
If the goal is to help this people, help get them out of poverty and government dependence. The behavior you’re trying to alter doesn’t happen in Killearn, Ox Bottom, Southwood, etc. Work to get people in the “problem neighborhoods” to have lives similar to people in the safer neighborhoods.
If that means hold fathers accountable, do it. Hint: It does!
All the money you want to spend will do little good on the projects you’ve proposed. Spending it to track down deadbeat dads will make that money go a lot further and force behavior changes that will keep the problem from expanding. It might even help!
A lot of redundancy in list of the task force’s action items. I suppose this is to present the illusion of accomplishment.
A better list of reality-based comments and pragmatic solutions can be found in the posts of Donny, Lynda, B.Better, and Weed… and yes, I agree 100% with Weed on his/her/whatever comment… shocking as that may seem 😉
STOP THROWING OUR TAX DOLLARS AWAY. Paying the Youth to join the Military? Just have the Community Leaders advise them to join the Military and why, it worked before. You may need to start punishing the Parents as well. If the TEMPO Program was working, ANY of the Programs actually, WHY is Crime still going UP? It is past time to get though on Criminals.
While I wish differently, Tallahassee’s 32304 is doomed. Holmes and Revell are using the only play they know, throw more money at a community that will never change. IMO, the typical black youth is going to “join the life” of crime, sex, drugs and letting the streets raise them and their children. Just examine the trend, the black community is not improving or deminishing there dependence of tax dollars to survive. Unfortunately, the real problem is politicians who make a good living pushing liberal agenda items while getting filthy rich promising to make the black communities life better.
I agree with what TPD Chief Lawrence Revell said. I also like action items 1,13, and 15. Item 13 will only work if they eliminate woke indoctrination and focus on nothing but the three R’s. (Accepting only half of the children can read at grade level is an utter failure and you haven’t fixed anything.)
This subject seems very complicated to the typical Leon/Tallahassee voter and to most of our elected/appointed Nannies on local commissions, advisory boards, and well just about everybody.
Lucky for you we have Snidely here to make simple the complex, to make clear the murky waters, to lay some truth on ya.
Here’s the poop:
This is a cause and effect issue in its most basic and completly understandable form.
The cause:
National and local B on B slaughter has gone to levels above and beyond what the national and local citizens can continue to support and sustain with their votes.
The effect:
National and local communitty organizers clearly see the cost of doing the business of rallying and delivering the Democratic vote which will keep our national/local elected Nannies in power has gone up dramatically due to the unprecidented rise in B on B slaughter and are demanding more social spending to deliver minority votes.
So there you go the reason behind the increased cost of keeping woke leftists in power nationally and locally.
Hope that helps in understanding why you must pay more and more for previously nonexistant social spending.
Finally the increased social spending is not intended to actually slow down the shamefull record numbers of B on B slaughter.
No not at all. The intent is simply to get more money in the hands of national and local communitty organizers to step up the effort of rallying minority citizens to deliver the Democratic vote.
And even more importantly to keep the white folks happy and voting Democratic by the warm fuzzy virturous feelings of “see we care about our minorities” because of the money we are spending on all these social programs.
Finally there is not one ounce of concern that the increased social spending is totally ineffictive and local communitty organizers are becoming millionaires off the funding.
So there you go the complex explained in a simple easy for everyone to understand.
Nicholas nailed it.
Hah! they’re unsure if they need to develop a ordinance to prohibit violence. This city has reached a new level of dysfunctional stupidity. Can you return back from unsure if you need to prohibit violence. Like right below turn your windshield wipers on when raining…; dont murder your neighbor. Thatll solve society. how can there be nobody with a basic functional brain in our entire local area leadership.
Only #7 includes the word family and none of them includes parents or father.
Here’s a clue.. find the father’s of the children and make them take responsibility, then tell the welfare moms to get out of their nail/hair salons and down to their children’s schools to interact with the teachers and make sure those children have good meals, attend class, do their homework, and take them to Sunday school. Problem solved!
All of this has been done previously and yet you see where we are. The only people benefiting are the ones who get taxpayer money to put in there own pockets and pretend they are doing something.
But give me more money and I’ll continue to get rich off of you.