Oakland\u2019s Ceasefire Initiative<\/a> is a successful framework for this kind of engagement.\u201d<\/p>\nA data-driven violence-reduction strategy created in 2012 and coordinating law enforcement, social services, and the community with the major goal being to reduce gang\/group-related homicides and shootings through focused intervention and deterrence, the Ceasefire program was associated in 2019 with a 20 percent decline in yearly total shootings.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutreach workers in these programs, typically credible messengers who turned their lives around, engage with people most likely to be involved in gun violence, work to de escalate disputes before crises or violence erupt in their neighborhoods, and connect high risk people to extensive networks providing job training, employment opportunities, mental health services and legal services to increase the likelihood of long term violence reduction,\u201d said Piquero.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou engage the individuals and groups with the highest risk of violence with a dual message of empathy and accountability and place them on notice that they are in great danger of being injured, killed, arrested, and\/or incarcerated.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Capt. Jason Potts, who currently leads the Vallejo Police Department\u2019s Operations Bureau, this kind of focused deterrence and intervention are necessary for aiding police departments whose methods are too often confined to response-based action.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraditional models of policing are typically random patrol, rapid response, and reactive investigations, which don\u2019t always lend themselves to effective and focused approaches,\u201d said Potts.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, these kinds of focused, innovative, and evidence-informed strategies are more important than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
By utilizing these strategies in the event of a homicide, and working with communities to implement them, police can identify everyone the victim was criminally connected to, proceed to the next victim and repeat the process to generate a report for those with the highest risk of violence and, as a result, potentially disrupt or intersect those criminal networks with credible street messengers.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice leaders must anticipate and strive to be forward thinking and use the best available data, science, and research to improve our strategies to combat violent crime, in particular gun violence,\u201d added Potts.<\/p>\n
However, police leaders and departments around the country are facing staff hiring and retention concerns, and the last two years have put individuals at the highest risk for community gun violence under enormous pressure, hamstringing many of the institutions that are responsible for responding to them and impeding the kind of proactive policing they can create.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe social unrest of 2020 moving into 2021 has created a divide between communities and the police that is really causing more violence to rise and last as a result of what we call delegitimizing and de-policing,\u201d said Abt.<\/p>\n
\u201cDelegitimizing means that when the police do something that abuses community trust, the community withdraws from the police: they don\u2019t report crimes, they don\u2019t cooperate and provide information and all of that makes the work of the police harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of de-policing, what we\u2019ve seen is enormous criticism and scrutiny of the police and some police responding by reducing their discretionary enforcement and what they do voluntarily in terms of proactive policing.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Paul Carillo, rectifying this situation, and improving and supporting community anti-violence efforts, has to be addressed from the top down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin law enforcement agencies, chiefs and top leaders must demand a consistent focus on preventing violence, not just making arrests, and also emphasize the importance of working with citizens and community partners and rewarding officers for outcomes like reduced victimization, rather than outputs like the number of pedestrian or car stops being made,\u201d said Carillo.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd every city with high rates of violent crime should have a permanent office dedicated to violence reduction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the jobs of this office, typically called an Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), are oversight and accountability of the violence reduction strategy being utilized by the city and the police department, and the people involved in it, advocacy for and support of the efforts on the ground, providing resources and funding for the agencies doing accountability, and conducting and overseeing research and evaluation efforts to make sure that what\u2019s being done is working and the best ways of improving them further.<\/p>\n
An example of this sort of oversight and accountability body is the Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention<\/a> created by the county Board of Supervisors in 2021. The Los Angeles OVP has since developed their Trauma Prevention Initiative (TPI), which supports a community-driven approach to public safety, and is pursuing millions of dollars<\/a> in potential funding for city-backed and community involved violence reduction initiatives.<\/p>\n\u201cWithout adequate leadership you have a bunch of siloed efforts in many cities across the nation where they have a bunch of resources but efforts are not being coordinated well,\u201d said Carillo.<\/p>\n
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