Louisville Metro Police Department is encouraging residents to attend a meeting in southwest Jefferson County on Tuesday night to discuss crime prevention and conflict resolution.
Sgt. Todd Brimm, from the department's 7th division, said events such as Tuesday's are important because "they lend validity to our partnership."
"Citizen involvement, community involvement is interwoven into any long-term strategy, any mission plan," he said.
Brimm said police will provide strategies residents can use to prevent crime from occurring.
"We're going to be focused on how to remove opportunities" for crime, he said.
Crime depends on certain elements, Brimm said. Those elements include opportunity, a victim and a motivated offender.
"If you remove one element, like a fire, the problem will cease to exist," he said.
About 85 percent of thefts from automobiles in the southwest Louisville area are committed in unlocked vehicles, Brimm said. But reports of thefts from automobile are down nearly 30 percent from this time last year in the 7th division, he said. He said the drop is due, in part, to better communication between the police and the community.
Meetings between the two entities, he said, can give residents an idea of how they can improve their quality of life.
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Summit Heights United Methodist Church gymnasium at 7400 Outer Loop. More than 100 people are expected to attend.
A separate crime prevention forum will begin at 6 p.m. at the Southwest Government Center at 7219 Dixie Highway. Police at this forum will also be accepting expired prescription pills for disposal.
