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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGVPC Minutes 05.21.24 CITY OF ROANOKE Gun Violence Prevention Commission Tuesday, May 21, 2024 5:30 pm Raleigh Court Branch Library 2112 Grandin Rd SW Roanoke, VA 24015 Kathy Cohen called the meeting to order at 5:33 pm. Roll Call Commissioners: Kathy Cohen, Tim Harvey, Eric Anderson, Amy Hodge, Catherine Koebell, Elliot Major, Shakira Williams, Robert Lamour, Jared Rose City Council: Joe Cobb, Stephanie Moon Reynolds City Staff: Angela O’Brien, Laura Carini, Christopher Roberts Roanoke Police Department: Deputy Chief Stokes, Llyod Merchant Guest: Rita Joyce – Fed Up, Valerie Koeppel – Carilion, Emma Coleman – Roanoke Times The minutes from April 16, 2024, were adopted by unanimous vote. (Tim Harvey – First, Robert Lamour – Second) New Business 1. Presentation on Bleeding Out by Thomas Abt Deputy Chief Stokes presented an overview of Thomas Abt’s Violence Reduction Strategies. Thomas Abt is the founding director of The center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction. Abt believes you treat community violence like a gunshot wound. You must triage, understanding who and where violence occurs in the community. To address community violence, you must develop an understanding of who and where violence occurs in the community. The first fundamental is focus. W ho are the hot people and where are the hot places? Interventions that focus on highest risk places, people and behaviors generate the strongest effect. The second fundamental is balance. Human beings respond to both rewards and punishments. The third fundamental is fairness. Community violence is closely connected to legitimacy. There are people-based and placed-based approaches. They use evidence and community informed strategies that are focused, balanced, and fair. Focused deterrence includes strategies like selecting a particular crime problem and focusing social services and community resources on target offenders to match the prevention efforts by law enforcement. To succeed, cities must put principles and programs together. They must agree on core principles, analyze the violence, develop a plan, and implement the plan. The presentation ended with questions and comments from commissioners and guests. Tim Harvey commented that Abt’s chart helps understand the work of the commission. Rita Joyce asked how many homicides were related to unregistered or illegal guns and do we have data on the types of homicides? Stokes responded by stating Virginia doesn’t require guns to be registered. You must have a background check. There were no illegal guns involved in the homicides last year although there were some illegal possessions. Elliot Major asked what is Abt’s answer to taking one guy out because another guy will step up and take his place. Deputy Chief Stokes replied, Abt is focused on behaviors, and intervention should be directed towards disrupting those behaviors. Elliot Major asked, giving the framework of what he advocates, are there any cities seeing positive results? Stokes replied, The Boston Ceasefire Project is an example of positive results. Catherine Kobel stated if you disrupt someone from gun carrying behavior, you will have fewer people being victimized. Kathy Cohen asked everyone to read Abt’s book. She encouraged the commission to take time over the next month to determine the commission’s goal because the commission began its work by looking at root causes. Old Business 1. The Lincoln Terrace reading program will resume. Third graders are not reading at grade level. Please contact Kathy Cohen if you are interested in being a reading tutor. Reports 1. Roanoke Police Department Community Engagement – Chief Scott Booth Highlights: All homicides down 80%. The city is on a good track. Some of the things Chief Booth is implementing are working based on data. Elliot Major asked, what evidence do we have to confirm strategies are working because most of the data is during the winter? What are we doing to provide some confidence level to the community? Chief Deputy Stokes replied, there were 2 incidents during winter compared to 10 incidents last year. The police department is doing some things differently. They are engaging with the community. In July and August, they started holding town halls. They are working with Mr. Merchant and RESET with their efforts in the community. The police department is focused on being in the areas where the problems are occurring. Elliot Major said we need to replicate efforts that are effective. 2. Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Unit Update – Chris Roberts On June 11, they will bring on 4 part-time staff. An update on Hooping for Hope was provided. This program provides seniors with a place to play basketball. Some students are playing in NCAA tournaments. The Youth and Gang Prevention Unit is talking to young people with a humble perspective. They are having conversations with youth who don’t see themselves living past this summer. These face-to-face conversations occur at least three times per week. The team is helping youth develop a life plan for three months. 3. RESET Update – Lloyd Merchant RESET deployed 4 times during April with the support of other departments. Residents on Wise Ave had concerns about homelessness, disrupted behavior, and stray cats. During the Ashton Heights deployment, 4 clergy offered spiritual support. They engaged with 50 residents who shared concerns about a lack of recreational activities for youth. RESET was deployed to Moorman Ave for an officer involved shooting. They split into two teams and interacted with 22 residents. They distributed 4 gunlocks. The apprenticeship program will hold its graduation on June 13. The Youth and Young Adult Mentorship program is facing issues with funding. Boxfit occurs every Thursday. They are holding a demo on Saturday at Northridge Rec Center. 10 young ladies were transported to the Library/YMCA and provided with snacks. A partnership occurred with ROTEC, they allowed 4 females to get their hair done. Decca Night does trauma training to help with self-care. 4. FEDUP Update Invited commissioners to June 8 prayer breakfast where they will introduce a new marketing video. Gun locks will be on the resource table. Announcements Next Meeting of GVP Commission, Tuesday, June 18, 2024, 5:30 pm at the Melrose Branch Library Community Room. Subcommittees are asked to share updates. Jared Rose will work with the Educational Subcommittee and Robert Lamour will work with the Community Engagement Subcommittee. Meeting adjourned at 7 pm