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TAYLORSVILLE — A few dozen families in the Taylorsville area met with Unified police Thursday night for the third annual Night Out Against Crime, just two weeks after two gunmen fired nearly two dozen shots into an apartment complex and narrowly missed the young children inside.
The underlying purpose was to develop teamwork between the police and the community.
The Unified Police Department has many tools for solving crime.
The K-9 unit is indispensable. But the partnerships with the people are even more critical.
"How we can work together as a team to take care of crime in the area," Unified detective Scott Lloyd said. "All my cases that I solve, the majority are done by the community talking to me (and) letting me know what's going on and being able to follow up on their leads to help me out."
In an apartment shooting near 4500 South, the bullets narrowly missed one man's infant in one room and his toddler in another. No suspects have been identified in the shooting, but police do have some leads.
"They just basically came after kids," local resident David Hall said. "Cowards."
Police said the case was likely one of mistaken identity of the home's owner.
Related:
20 shots fired at apartments, children's bedrooms
Just after 4 a.m. Tuesday, a witness saw a silver car pull up to the Atherton Park Apartments, 4545 S. Atherton Drive. Two men got out and opened fire.Travis and Alecia Tilley own a condo not far from that apartment complex. "It made me feel sad that in our neighborhood something like that still happens," Travis Tilley said. "Because you don't hear about drive-bys like that happening too often anymore."
Before they bought their home, they asked the police about that neighborhood and looked into the crime statistics.
"I feel very safe," Tilley added.
The Unified Police Department said overall crime in Taylorsville has dropped 17 percent in the three years since the city joined UPD.
The Tilleys echoed that statistic with their experience. Their area has a Neighborhood Watch, and neighbors update each other on criminal activity.
The family feels like Taylorsville is a good place to raise children.
"Everybody really tries to look out for everybody else," Tilley said.
Police admit there are always problems. But they see them as challenges they can solve together.
"We want the community to trust us," Lloyd said.
