TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Tallahassee city leaders met for the first time this year to talk about the direction the city is moving in and what they're envisioning for the year ahead.
Tallahassee's new Police Chief Lawrence Revell addressed everyone at the meeting about his plans for the future of Tallahassee.
Just nine days in Chief Revell says he's already identifying ways to curb crime.
As city leaders look back on accomplishments from 2019 and ahead to goals for 2020, one of the biggest areas of focus is crime.
With a new chief at the police department, the relationship between cops and the community is key, starting with creating a Citizens Advisory Committee.
"I've got a whole folder set aside where I've already gotten tons of interest from people who want to be a part of that committee," said Chief Revell.
Chief Revell says he's been busy, learning the concerns of the community.
"We talked about teen pregnancy, we talked about drug use, we talked about fear of the police, we talked about getting back to anti-drug marches that we used to do."
One of the biggest focuses of crime involves teen offenders. TEMPO is a program in Tallahassee aimed at connecting police with disadvantaged youth and helping them.
"There are 280 estimated disconnected youth in that census tract," said Dr. Kimball Thomas. "We have already touched 147 of them."
More than half of the people who have gone through TEMPO, already had some sort of run in with the law. But of the 800 graduates, none have gotten in trouble since.
Chief Revell says he has plans for a groundbreaking partnership with TEMPO by creating a community service officer position.
"Which will allow TEMPO graduates to move into those positions then on to full time officer positions, then eventually mentors in those communities back where they grew up just like I did," Revell explained.
Development around the city also came up Wednesday. That development included the proposed TPD headquarters.
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