PEORIA, Ill. – Some of the solutions to the city of Peoria’s ongoing violence problems — or at least the path to them — may come from the City of Peoria’s budget for the next two years.
For one, the city is proposing hiring 30 more police officers, bringing the city back to a full force of 220.
“That’s going to help to address some of the problems,” said Mayor Rita Ali, to news partner 25 News. “We also need that community side — we need that citizen-based programming that helps to get citizen involvement.”
Ali says another more than $1 million each of the next two years of federal American Recovery Plan funds are also being allocated for community-based initiatives.
The City Council must still approve the budget.
Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria tells news partner 25 News fully staffing the police department will help stem the tide of violence, as will continuing to make the police force more diverse.
“We just need to cast a wider net of where we recruit,” said Echevarria. “We need to hit the military transition centers, Division 2 and Division 3 schools. We don’t have a college requirement, so that opens up our pool of candidates even wider. We just need to go out there and reach those candidates.”
As for what else can be done, Echevarria says officers continuing to go door-to-door to talk with residents, parents having serious discussions with their children and not sugar-coating issues, and continuing to work with Peoria Public Schools.
