The Lewiston Police Department will hold two information sessions for parents later this month regarding the city’s youth, gun safety and “substance use challenges,” as part of the department’s plan to address a surge of gun violence incidents over the past year.
[RELATED: 14-year-old Shot in Lewiston, Refuses to Cooperate with Investigators: Lewiston PD…]
The first of these sessions is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at the Montello School Cafeteria, and the second at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27, at the Lewiston Middle School Auditorium.
“We will talk about what we’re seeing with Lewiston youth, gun safety and substance use challenges, and signs parents should look for that indicate their child might be in trouble,” police said in a Thursday post to social media announcing the sessions.
“We’re presenting this information in partnership with Lewiston Public Schools and the City of Lewiston as part of Lewiston’s initial plan to address gun violence,” the department stated.
Police say both sessions will have the same information and will address what the department is observing in Lewiston Schools at all grade levels.
Parents will have the opportunity to ask questions, and there will be interpreters available, police said.
The information sessions between police and Lewiston parents are part of a strategy of community engagement announced by Police Chief David St. Pierre at a press conference addressing the city’s uptick in shootings from August of last year.
Chief St. Pierre said at the press conference that the city had seen nearly 30 shots fired incidents since the start of 2023.
Those shootings included gunshots interrupting a refugee nonprofit group’s ‘family fun day’ event at a public park in Lewiston that had over 300 attendees and a large amount of children in attendance, as well as a shooting at a Lewiston public housing complex that left a 17-year-old dead.
St. Pierre said in August that the city would hold monthly informal meetings with immigrant and refugee groups based in the area , in order to “build trust” between police and the local youth.
“The city will take a more active role in working with organizations who work with youth, immigrant[s], refugees, and first generation Americans,” the police chief said.
Other steps announced by city officials last year in their initial plan to address gun violence included increased police presence throughout the city, additional overtime funding for officers and coordination with the federal U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Department of Homeland Security to assist in their investigations.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="35388 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=35388">7 Comments
Lewiston and Auburn need to invest in deportation to change the criminal atmosphere in your NGO communities.
Thankfully DOGE is pulling the plug on the NGO swamp and the illegal aliens
drain on our society will soon come to a screeching halt.
lack of traditional american vaules is the problem
Will the Governor be their to welcome the NEW AMERICANS she loves so much?
they should ask ICE for assistance as well!! they would prob make the biggest differance
“The city will take a more active role in working with organizations who work with youth, immigrant[s], refugees, and first generation Americans,” the police chief said.
Enforcing the law and prosecuting the criminals may be a better approach.
Will there be someone there to translate. How about just treating them like the criminals they are?
Allowing occupation by those that raise their children to believe that a god commands them to convert or murder all that won’t believe as they do will doom any city.