A key to reducing crime in Chattanooga is fostering communication between residents in crime-ridden neighborhoods and the police who enforce the laws, an expert said this morning.

David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control in New York, said communities can effectively tamp down on violent, drug-related crime by making it known to gang members that they won’t stand for it.

Recent statistics from the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies in Chattanooga show the city’s crime rate declining at a slower rate than the national average.

Members of such local communities and law enforcement officials said they liked Mr. Kennedy’s idea, but said it may be hard to forge that trust and escape old habits.

Mr. Kennedy spoke at a crime prevention conference at the Hamilton County Courthouse hosted by state Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.