TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw presented his annual report of the public safety master plan to the Tampa City Council Thursday and shared ideas on how to mitigate gun violence in the city.

Bercaw told the city council that murders were down 13% last year and says the police department plans to add 80 officers by 2028. 

He suggested pursuing more grants, like the one they received a couple of years ago to create a crime gun intelligence center.

He also wants to expand youth groups and increase communication with neighborhood watch groups.

Yvette Lewis, president of the NAACP Hillsborough County branch, said the police chief has some good ideas.

“I like the idea that they’re having a conversation with the neighborhood and neighborhood watch, and getting out into the community to have a conversation,” she said.

Despite crime being down from 2022, the city has seen multiple incidents of gun violence in the past seven months in high-profile areas, such as Ybor City, Armature Works and this past weekend, a deadly shooting in the SoHo area.

Lewis said that’s something they’ve been asking for, but the city’s administration isn’t listening.

“We have constantly advocated for more jobs and better effective jobs — meaningful jobs — that these kids can get, other than just picking up trash off the streets,” she said. “We have asked for that over and over again, yet it has fallen on deaf ears.”

Bercaw said there is something really simple everyone can do to keep guns from getting into the wrong hands, and that's ensuring that all cars are locked. He said last year, nearly 200 guns were stolen from unlocked cars in Tampa.