Meeting held to address violence in Pottstown

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (FOX 29) - A meeting was held Thursday night to address the rash of violence in Pottstown. Police addressed concerns after three shootings in just one week at the end of April. Two of those shootings were deadly.

Pottstown Police Chief Mick Markovich acknowledged that violent crime has been going up in the last 5 years, specifically involving guns and teens.

"Now, we have a problem with 17-year-olds, 18-year-olds, 19-year-old shooting people," he said.

Many in the crowd believe the answer is to get the children engaged in positive activities in their community early on.

"The people and parents that create the problems aren't here. We're gonna have to find a way to get to them," one resident said.

David Charles runs a program at the middle school and says the kids need to know people care. He says he was raised by a village of people some in the room Thursday.

"I'd be dead or in jail if I didn't have a community of people. Do you get that?" Charles asked.

The police chief says they plan to relocate the 45 officers on the force at least for the summer in an effort to increase safety.

"We will have extra officers during day shifts and extra officers at night trying to put those extra patrols out there," Chief Markovich said.