国际英语新闻:U.S. Houston mayor asks for collective efforts to reduce violence

HOUSTON, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Sunday urged community leaders to work together to bring down violence in the city.

Joining community leaders at a "Stop the Violence H-Town" rally, Turner said the number of violent crimes in Houston has been on the rise in the year 2020. He said he exchanged ideas with a number of U.S. mayors recently to address this issue.

"2020 has been a challenging year," Turner said. "While everybody is dealing with this pandemic how do we bring down the violence?"

While giving credit to the organizers of this event, Turner urged more leaders to listen to people's needs.

"It's not just about adding police. It's about getting in these communities and meeting people's needs and letting people know that we care," he said. "It requires all hands working in all communities and letting people know that we are not just there to police them, we are to uplift these people."

Houston police have reported several times that the crime rate in the city increased in the year 2020. According to Houston Crime Stoppers, a community program that helps people to provide anonymous information about criminal activity, 2020 is one of the most violent years in Houston since the 1990s.