Residents in the Dover East Estates neighborhood held a community meeting June 20 to discuss gun violence prevention and safety.
This came after a shooting in neighboring Barrister Place, which resulted in the death of a 22-year-old and four people injured.
And this isn’t the first shooting at Barrister Place, Dover City Council member Brian Lewis said. Stray bullets have hit homes in the neighboring community Dover East Estates, whose residents recently held a community meeting.
Lewis attended the meeting and says the community is disappointed in city leadership.
“They're disappointed with the mayor,” Lewis said. “They're disappointed with the police chief because of the fact that it's ongoing. And they feel that they are the experts, and they need to get a hold on it.”
Dover city officials have considered installing cameras in the Barrister Place area and received a quote on installment in March, according to a city official.
But those haven’t been put in place. Dover East Estates residents said they want them and more frequent patrols. They also discussed installing a fence between their neighborhood and Barrister Place.
“I spoke with the Deputy City Manager two days ago, Sharon Duca, and she told me that the onus of [camera installation] falls on the police department…,” Lewis said at the community meeting. “So I am livid. Okay, I'm angry and disturbed [by] what's going on in this city. And something has to be done.”
Dover East Estates property manager Karen Kemp attended the meeting. She said she doesn’t follow politics but felt the need to get involved.
“The gun violence has seriously escalated all through Dover in the last few years,” Kemp said. “The question is, what's going to be done about it? It seems that the police detective, the police detectives and the rest of law enforcement are doing everything they can. The city code enforcement has also tried to contact or control the blight Barrister is causing. None of these efforts have seemed to put a dent in the problem.”
Mayor Robin Christiansen said at a press conference last week he’s considering curfews in certain neighborhoods. Lewis said he’s not convinced that would work.
“That's my opinion,” Lewis said. “I think we need to get more law enforcement agencies involved, and we also need to sit down with these people. We need to talk to these people.”
Lewis represents Dover’s second district where the shooting occurred and was not invited to city officials’ press conference last week.
He said he and other community members should be heard and involved as the city works to address these issues.
