North Palm Springs residents express concerns about violence during town hall meeting with police

On Tuesday night, the Palm Springs Police Department held a community town hall meeting amid a rise in violence in the Desert Highland Gateway Estates neighborhood. It's often a hotspot for crime.

Dozens of residents showed up and voiced their concerns. “Innocent people are having bullets in their house, you know my neighbors are scared, you know there’s a murder just down the street from me. I don’t think that’s even been solved you know. I’ve never lived in a neighborhood like that,” said resident Charlotte Schewaga.

This, as gun violence increases in the Desert Highland Gateway Estates neighborhood. “Today here, a gentleman was just driving by and was shot at just down the street from here,” said Lieutenant Frank Browning with Palm Springs Police.

Authorities said the community meeting was a way to get feedback from residents on what they want to see from law enforcement.

“To bring to light all of the gun violence that’s been going on in this community specifically and get ideas from the community members on how we can work together to kind of curb some of this violence going on,” Browning added.

Authorities say these shootings typically happen amongst juveniles in the area. After speaking with residents, they said they want to see a change- “It’s all been teenagers, youth and it just seems like no matter what they do, take guns of the streets and everything, it just continues,” said Schewaga.

Evernelle Black, a resident of the Desert Highland Gateway Estates, has lived in the community since 1963. “We didn’t seem to have a problem in the earlier years but I guess it’s because younger people have different outlooks on life.”

She said she wants to see a difference in how the black community works with the police department. “How black young men are treated, are harassed by the police department. And the difference that they make between the races when they’re arrested."

Residents said the Desert Highland Gateway Estates is a friendly neighborhood that needs a higher police presence where crime is constant.

“People look out for each other, they watch over. You know, it’s a real good neighborhood. It’s just it’s got some things that need to be resolved," Schewaga added, “There’s some good people here and we need some services you know. There’s other services that aren't being tended to.”

If you are a resident of the neighborhood and were unable to attend, police you can stay up to date by heading to nextdoor.com for details on the next community meeting.