Chattanooga Gets Ready to Implement New Crime Initiative

They plan on talking to several dozen people in an undisclosed location, not the Chattanooga Police Department.

Mayor Berke adds, "It’s not to interrogate them, it’s to explain their options."

Option number one: Stop shooting.

Mayor Berke adds, "We’ll offer you drug and alcohol counseling and vocational rehabilitation, and all kinds of other options."

Otherwise Mayor Berke says, "We’re coming after you."

It’s all part of Chattanooga’s Violence Reduction Initiative.

Mayor Berke says he doesn’t know if he will be personally speaking with the violent offenders. 

The last four months of 2013, Chattanooga has seen a 40 percent decrease in the number of shootings, from twelve shootings a month to about seven shootings a month.

Mayor Berke adds, "You’re seeing those numbers drop. No one is satisfied. We want to keep up that kind of pressure as Chattanooga’s Violence Reduction Initiative rolls out at the end of March."

However, there’s no indication that these violent offenders will even be open to Mayor Berke’s new initiative or heed his warning.

If they do, expect the number of shootings to drop in 2014.