Groups meet to discuss crime

About 135 citizens of local communities turned out on Saturday for the first annual Sheriff's Criminal Justice Conference sponsored by Philadelphia Sheriff John Green and his office, held in David Rittenhouse Laboratory's main lecture hall. These representatives came from over 30 grassroots, crime-prevention organizations to learn how to obtain grants from the recently enacted federal Crime Bill in order to benefit West Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, North Philadelphia and Germantown. "Applications for grants would be much easier to obtain if one unified application is submitted," said U.S. Attorney General's Office of Law Enforcement Official William Baron. "The money is out there, but people need to apply for these grants." Although the groups were pleased to hear that money is indeed available, conflict among audience members and hostility towards House of Representatives officials LeAnna Washington and Harold James characterized the conference for the early part of the day. Individuals disagreed on the methods needed to organize themselves during the conference in order to facilitate discussion and organization among the different groups present. "It was disheartening to see so much fighting among people who were all aiming towards the same goal," said College sophomore Sharon Goldberg. "The activists were so busy fighting over how to organize that they were not getting anything accomplished at all." Some activists said they should be organized by districts, while others were adamant about organizing by type of program such as education or drug enforcement. And others said they wanted to remain together as one group to discuss the cooperation among different neighborhoods and programs. "We need some program designed to address all issues," said West Philadelphia Coalition Leader Leo Tolberg. "Somehow we need to put the bulk of the dollars in a unified effort." The afternoon session of the conference produced more productive results as community members and coalition leaders decided to remain together as one large group in order to discuss problems and solutions for obtaining these needed monetary grants. "The final decision was made to form a regional planning commission on crime bill legislation and funding," said Linda Davis, a staff member at Reach Communication. "The committee is going to address all issues affecting these Philadelphia counties." Steven Pina, executive director of One Day at a Time, was appointed to head this commission for all the united communities. "The fighting finally ceased as community members decided to make a unified effort for all the effected communities," explained Steering Committee member Jim Davis. "A sheet was even signed by all the members pledging their support."