Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren wants the community to know that the escalation of violence in the metro is not going unnoticed.

The chief held a news conference Wednesday afternoon saying, "We will continue to investigate these cases aggressively. We will deploy the resources necessary."

The chief says there will be an increase in patrols.

Last year at this time the city had recorded eight homicides.
There have been 14 murders this year and that's on par with the homicide rate for 2003.

Chief Warren says, "Obviously the Omaha Police Department is concerned about the recent outbreak of gun violence. We have identified reducing violent crime as our top priority."

The chief says while the homicides don't seem to be connected police do know that gang activity and drug distribution is behind most of the killing.

The chief says the job of solving the violent deaths is especially hard because the young witnesses won't talk.

Chief Warren says, "It makes it difficult when we don't have the cooperation of victims and we don't have the cooperation of witnesses."

The chief describes witnesses as being too reluctant, not necessarily scared. He says they're determined not to talk for a number of reasons.

"Unfortunately there are occasions where these events occur that individuals try to take matters into their own hands and it just makes things worse," the chief says.

The violence hits home for the Reverend Tony Sanders at Koinonia House of Worship.

He says, "My phone has been ringing off the hook from families needing counseling and intervention."

YMCA teen manager Kim Bradford has also known many of the victims.

"It's very heartbreaking," she says. "It's hard. Our kids, I don't think have a concept of death. They don't realize, once I die, that's it."

She's not surprised that young witnesses are silent.

Bradford says, "I don't think, not from the teen culture, you're not going to get it. They don't have the same bond or feel as secure as we would feel by stepping forward."

The Reverend Sanders says, "It's the code of the street. You just don't talk. It's very strong. Actually, it's cultural, within the gangs, within the street life. It's something they will adhere to. They will live and die by that."

He says the only way to overcome that is with a sense of trust.

Both Sanders and Bradford say they are committed to helping young people and their faith gets them through the bad times.

They also say there are some very real success stories that don't show up in the headlines. Bradford says she currently has one young man in the Army, another in the Navy, and a young woman carrying a 4.0 as a junior at Spelman College in Atlanta.