By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A new initiate by the city of St. Joseph aims to lower crime and improve the appearance of the College Hill Park Area.
A community safety fair will be held on Saturday, an initiative bringing several city departments together.
City Manager Mike Schumacher says the initiative was planned by the St. Joseph Police Department in an area with higher crime numbers.
“So they picked a particular neighborhood, partnered with the fire department, with our very generous business community donated 100 smoke detectors, and so police will be present to help out our residents and so will fire with free smoke detectors and they will actually put them up for you,” Schumacher says on the KFEQmunnity show.
Schumacher says there will also be dumpsters out during the event for people to get rid of unwanted items. The city’s public works department will be on hand to help people who may not be able to get items to the dumpsters.
Schumacher says the city can do a lot of good when all the departments work together
“For example, if the police department went out one day and then a couple of weeks later fire goes out to offer some of the great things they do, and then gosh a couple weeks later codes, first of all no one wants to deal with the city multiple weekends in a row right?” Schumacher explains. “But more importantly, when that customer is contacted at their house or they step outside, they can get a whole plethora of questions answered.”
Schumacher says residents who have heard about the effort in that area have responded positively
“Senior citizens that have an old refrigerator for example that’s just to heavy for them to do anything with, it really gives them all an opportunity to clean up their properties and get in compliance while also perhaps, if they need one, getting a smoke detector and finding out about different options the city offers to try to help them out,” Schumacher says.
The event will run from noon to 4pm on Saturday.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
