"Too many lives have been cut short," Trenton councilman Duncan Harrison said at the sidewalk event.
TRENTON -- City Councilman Duncan Harrison stood before dozens of residents at the corner of Stuyvesant and Hoffman avenues Wednesday evening to propose new initiatives to combat gun violence.
"Too many lives have been cut short," Harrison said. "I feel the pain that this community goes through on a day-to-day basis,"
"It's personal," he said. "Just two weeks ago, only a couple of blocks from here, not only was my cousin shot, but I had a niece that was shot also."
Harrison called for the city to take four steps to reduce violent crime: 30 new police officers; 100 new surveillance cameras; 500 streetlights; and an expansion of the city's ShotSpotter gunfire detection system.
The councilman also called on community members to come together to engage the city's youth and build off of programs like the Summer Youth Employment Program.
He also reminded residents that accountability for young people starts at home and said that family members should take it upon themselves to begin making the changes they want to see.
His plan was well received by the dozens in attendance.
The city has already made use of many of the things for which Harrison called, making his ideas mainly an expansion of current methods.
City police have recently begun a recruitment drive seeking Trenton residents who wish to join their ranks. Harrison urged community members to do so.
The city currently makes use of strategically placed surveillance cameras, but Harrison wants more. Harrison says his plan would help the city partner with local businesses that want surveillance to keep the price of the equipment as low as possible.
And ShotSpotter already allows for police to triangulate the location of gun shots rather than relying on notification from the public. The city re-deployed that program in parts of the city last year.
Few doubt that these measures would lower violent crime, but there is a large funding hurdle for the proposal to overcome.
Harrison said he anticipates that the money could be made available through capital funding, a Community Development Block Grant and the city's general operations budget.
He estimates the total costs somewhere between $500,000 and $700,000.
Officials at City Hall say that those estimates are too low and point out that hiring 30 new officers would cost around $1.8 million after medical benefits.
As the city already relies heavily on federal grant money to fund the police and fire departments, the money required to pay for additional police is not always guaranteed.
Officials also say that the current surveillance cameras in use by the city cost approximately $1,000 each out of the box, then there are costs for installation and technology to run the system.
Harrison said that his proposal is not yet fully developed and that he would have more details in the future.
Greg Wright may be reached at gwright@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregTheWright. Find NJ.com on Facebook.