THE CANDIDATE SPEAKS… Christopher J. Clark

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Citizen Newspaper: How would you improve and expand public safety in the City of Harvey?

Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark: We have made substantial progress towards improving public safety by removing nearly 200 illegal guns off the streets, reducing homicides by 55% from 2021 and gunshot victims by 38%. We achieved this success through a multi-pronged approach that included: making significant investments in new equipment such as police vehicles, tasers, body cameras, license plate readers, and surveillance cameras.

It’s great to see the progress that the City of Harvey has made towards improving public safety; the city has gone approximately 3 months without a single homicide, which is a tremendous accomplishment. However, there are still opportunities to further enhance public safety and rebuild communi ty trust. As we look to build on this success we will continue with our comprehensive plan to include public trust between the police and the community, education for residents on communi ty safety techniques, our new tip411 system and community events (National Night Out, a Citizens Police Academy for residents to be educated on community safety techniques, cancer walks, pet-fair for dog and cat registration, Halloween trunk or treats, car-shows, and Christmas toy drives) to encourage engagement and collaboration. We will also continue to focus on infrastructure improvements such as repairing and replacing streetlights, demolishing abandoned buildings, and improving road conditions. These improvements can help deter criminal activity by creating a more secure and well-maintained environment. We recently received $2.8 million from the U.S. Congresswoman Robin Kelly for the purchase of a new fire truck, demolition of blighted homes and improvement of streetlights. While we have already repaired, replaced or retrofitted over 2000 streetlights and demolished over 50 abandoned buildings, the additional funds will assist in furthering our mission to improve and expand public safety. investments to the city, and to ensure long-term sustainable economic growth. Trust in the police department: Prior to taking office, the Harvey Police Department was raided twice by the federal government and once by the state. Several of those former officers have been indicted and/or convicted. Since taking office, our department has worked to remove corruption, and terminate bad actors. This goes a long way in rebuilding trust.

A cleaner city contributes to economic viability. Since taking office, the public works department has invested in a cleaner city. The department has purchased six new snowplows and dump trucks, a new frontloader and various landscaping equipment to keep our city clean. Additionally, the department has employed Harvey residents, who have a stake in our city, to address issues of blight throughout our community.