COLUMBUS, Ohio — Monday night, Columbus City Council will vote to amend the $2.3 billion city budget with measures aimed at curbing crime on a street level, while supporting the mounting mental health needs of the community.
The amendments include a $100,000 block watch assistance grant.
Groups like, Securban Living, say they work to share information with police that could help solve crimes in their neighborhood.
10TV spoke to the founder of Securban Living, who wanted to remain anonymous to protect his own safety.
“We're going to share valuable evidence of video and patterns that a thousand people plus can capture,” he said.
His past efforts have led to the installation of cameras outside a West Columbus community center.
“Crimes are captured on cameras, they're not stopped by cameras,” he added.
He's hopeful now about the opportunity to apply for financial support in a new $100,000 block watch assistance grant that was announced Monday by councilmember, Emmanuel Remy.
"They've been very, very successful at reducing the amount of crime within that neighborhood,” Remy said. “But we're going to be looking to duplicate efforts like that throughout the community."
This -- as part of safety initiatives in the proposed $2.3 billion city budget.
Another $90,000 would establish a security camera rebate program, to help residents cover the cost of a camera, and register their camera with Columbus Police.
"When there is an incident on any particular street, the detectives that are researching the case can know exactly which house to go to, to ask for additional footage,” Remy said.
But for block watch groups like Securban Living, help can't just come from the city.
The group’s founder said support must come from neighbors, too.
“The culture of don't say anything is slowly dying. And it's private networks like ours that are getting the job done."