Federal Way’s chief of police feels safer in his community.

He feels safer on the street and walking the BPA trail.

He feels safer because of the work his police department has done to put the killers in four Federal Way murders behind bars – even if it’s not yet for the murder charges he expects his department will eventually bring forward.

“We are nowhere being complete with the investigation, so right now, our goal is to be able to file murder charges on all four cases,” said Chief of Police Andy Hwang at a Violence Prevention Coalition meeting. “That would be our ultimate goal.”

But he’s optimistic victims Jeffrey McLaren, Alex Kelly, Frank Cohens Jr. and Adam Gutierrez will have justice.

“With the killer being in custody, we can take the time,” he said. “If the circumstances are different and the person was out in the community, we would file the charges in the case or cases that we could now just to take them into custody. But we are taking our time. Once the information goes out, you can retract it so this gives investigators the best opportunity to file all four cases.”

Hwang said it’s “unimaginable” to think of the impact the murderers had on the community, which caused “so much fear and havoc.”

“I really want to take this opportunity to thank the detectives who worked on this case,” he said. “It was their relentless pursuit of the truth that cracked this case. I couldn’t be more proud of our people because it has restored some sense of security back in our community.”

Hwang gave his update to about 20 community members who attended a community session organized by the Violence Prevention Coalition steering committee, which was held at City Hall on Oct. 26.

With a focus on youth violence, the steering committee urged community members, including some Federal Way City Council members, to break up into small groups to come up with ideas on how to help in primary, secondary and tertiary prevention.

According to the committee’s chair, Doug Baxter, primary prevention involves actions, programs and policies that can involve anyone and/or impact the city as a whole. He said examples include adding more out-of-school youth activities, more block watches, and tools to help neighbors get to know each other.

Secondary prevention involves early detection and can prompt intervention for those with multiple risk factors, he said. Examples include mentoring programs, mental health services and family support services.

Tertiary prevention centers around treatment and rehabilitation to reduce further complications. Interventions for those most at-risk of perpetrating and/or being a victim of violence could apply at the tertiary level. These strategies include successful re-entry from the justice system and mental health services, Baxter said.

The small groups had similar ideas.

Each group mentioned the need for increasing youth activities either after school or at night, and many recognized the challenges of transportation and suggested ideas to combat that issue. Communication between the community and the school district, public/private partnerships for teenagers in the workforce, and education surrounding violence, drugs and domestic violence were also recommendations.

The committee handed out a paper survey that can be returned to the Mayor’s Office upon completion. Baxter estimated the online survey, which will be available in Spanish, Korean and Russian, wold be available in the next couple of weeks.

The 13-member committee is expected to forward recommendations on how to prevent and decrease youth violence to the city on April 1.

For more information on the Violence Prevention Coalition steering committee, visit cityoffederalway.com/page/violence-prevention-coalition.