Sanford holds youth prevention summit amid city shootings

SANFORD, Fla. — There has been several shootings in the city of Sanford in the past few weeks, and Wednesday, the community joined together to try to figure out how to handle the problem.

The city is hosting a youth violence prevention summit Wednesday.

The city of Sanford and surrounding law enforcement agencies said it’s had enough of youth crime is spiraling out of control.

At a special summit gathered a myriad of community leaders together to tackle the problem.

WFTV was there when the focus of conversation turned to increasing crime rates among young African-American males, who are at the top of the local jail population and the bottom of high school graduation rates.

“If you have a 37 percent graduation rate, where do you expect to see these young men?” asked WFTV reporter Steve Barrett.

“I expect to see them where I see them: in the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Corrections,” said crime researcher Dr. Randy Nelson.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office also took the opportunity to announce a new program called "Focus on Safety."

It's a new curriculum that will be taught in some schools this fall, which is similar to the DARE curriculum, but targeting certain groups of at-risk children.

WFTV