BATON ROUGE - On Tuesday, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome held a press conference to discuss the sharp increase in violent crimes in the Baton Rouge area.

Mayor Broome held the conference alongside a number of officials, including Interim Police Chief Jonny Dunnam and District Attorney Hillar Moore. Majors from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office were also in attendance in lieu of Sheriff Sid Gautreaux.

At the conference, the mayor acknowledged a steep increase in homicides and says the city is taking immediate action to combat the rise. According to Chief Dunnam, Baton Rouge has seen 57 homicides so far this year, compared to last year's 22 at the same point.

Chief Dunnam added that violent crime as a whole is also on the rise.

The mayor says there will be open lines of communication between the sheriff's office and BRPD going forward. She added that she's reactivated her "Public Safety Transition Team" to organize new ways to solve crime.

Mayor Broome also hopes to start a clean up initiative to target blight in all neighborhoods and aims to offer more help for troubled youths in the area.

DA Hillar Moore added that the city has started a series of shots-fired, non-fatal shooting meetings to better identify what's going on across the community.

"We have our better days ahead of us," Moore said.