ELYRIA, Ohio — Elyria Police are launching a new initiative to address drugs, illegal firearms and violent crime in the city. The Neighborhood Impact Unit (NIU) is beginning to hit the streets this week.
“Working in the neighborhoods, along with the residents that live there, providing them information, will make the city a lot safer place to be,” said Elyria Police patrol commander Capt. Jim Welsh.
The specialized team will add more officers to areas of the city experiencing increased crime and collaborate with partner agencies. The overtime detail will also focus on building relationships in different neighborhoods.
“The goal is extra police presence and to collaborate with the community and neighbors that live in those communities,” said Capt. Welsh.
Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker added, “Building that relationship between our police and the community is a big deal to me. I know it’s important to our police chief and it’s important to our community.”
Some neighbors told News 5 that safety has been a growing concern.
“Me and him could be walking to the gas station, and somebody could be out there shooting, and we could be caught in the middle of it,” said Brooke Sprouse while playing with her 3-year-old son Friday.
The lifelong Elyria resident said several shootings have happened near her South Side home in recent years.
“I’ve lived here 30 years. And I love it. If they could clean it up, that’d be great,” said Grouse’s friend Lisa Pay.
From January to September 2024, Elyria Police said the department had responded to 47 shootings. Combined with 2023, more than 150 shots fired incidents have been reported.
“Some of those we’ve been able to make arrests, and some of them - the investigations are ongoing,” Welsh explained.
He said the NIU will give the department more resources to address gun violence and other crimes while also building rapport with neighbors.
“Police are only one aspect of violent crime reduction. The other part is the community,” Welsh said.
He said the NIU worked its first shift Thursday night and already netted success.
The unit arrested an adult attempting to sell an illegal gun to a teenager near Elyria High School. The city counts the arrest as an early marker of success and hopes it’s a sign of things to come.
“We want the bad guys to know they’re not welcome in this city,” said Brubaker.
Neighbors told News 5 they hope the initiative leads to a safer city.
“I think if [the police] are on a thing about cleaning it up and trying to get the violence out of here, that would be great because Elyria has been on the news too many times,” said Pay.
The Elyria Police Department formerly staffed a Neighborhood Impact Unit in the 1990s and early 2000s, but it was eliminated with tighter budgets and shorter staffing.
Welsh said the department is now well-positioned to staff the relaunched NIU and leverage its resources. A grant from the Northern Ohio Violent Crime Consortium partly funds the initiative. Though that grant expires at the end of 2024, the department is already applying for additional funding sources.
