RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — Rutland’s Police Chief says the city has applied for a $1 million U.S. Department of Justice grant to target mental health, substance abuse, poverty and other quality-of-life issues in one neighborhood.

Chief James Baker says a higher percentage of Rutland County’s burglaries, thefts, vandalisms and assaults take place in a five-block-wide section of the city.

The Rutland Herald reports (http://bit.ly/WXafqB) Baker distributed handouts at a public forum Wednesday describing the northwest neighborhood as a ‘‘hot zone’ for criminal acts. He said of the 13,000 police calls each year in the city, about 73 percent are in the neighborhood.

Baker said he and a coalition of government and social service agencies are working to improve the neighborhood by improving the lives of those who live there.

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