Will the Special Investigative Unit decrease gun violence in Flint?

Amy Diaz

September 15, 2020 |

Flint Beat |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Flint, Michigan

In the first full month since it was created to take illegal guns off the street, Flint's Special Investigative Unit seized 64 firearms and made dozens of arrests. The unit's predictive policing approach relies on data that tell the police where gun crimes are concentrated. Critics contend that focusing enforcement on historically high-crime areas creates a feedback loop of racially disparate policing, in that more cops in a neighborhood means more arrests, which in turn invites more enforcement. Targeted gun enforcement has a mixed record of crime reductions and racial inequities.

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Spy planes provide modest help to Baltimore crime fight over three months, researchers find

Tim Prudente

September 11, 2020 |

The Baltimore Sun |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

After three months of a pilot project putting video-equipped planes in flight over Baltimore, police made arrests in 21% of the 81 cases in which video evidence was provided. The arrest rate is slightly greater than in the many more cases that were not aided by aerial video. But researchers and police have not concluded from the evidence that the project is effective enough to continue after its six-month, privately funded run. Civil liberties advocates have challenged use of the so-called spy planes, which the city hopes will help combat its high rate of homicides and other violent crimes.

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Portland's High Stakes Experiment to Shrink the Role of Police in Fighting Gun Violence

Casey Parks

September 10, 2020 |

The Trace |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

Two years after reorganizing a police gun-enforcement unit to focus it on an evidence-based approach to preventing retaliatory shootings, Portland city leaders abolished the unit in a round of police budget cuts and failed to reinvest that money in community-based alternatives that don't rely on the police. The result, criminologists say, is a worst-case scenario: a policing reform that creates a vacuum and could be to blame for an alarming spike in gun violence. The most effective solutions, they say, blend effective policing with proven community-based programs.

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Can Pools Help to Deter Crime?

Ginia Bellafante

September 04, 2020 |

The New York Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

One response to the violent unrest of the late 1960s was New York's installation of a network of swimming pools. The idea: give people a refreshing escape, and a way to cool – literally – the emotions that can lead to violence. No solid evidence proves a causal effect, but serious crime in the city dropped significantly and immediately. In 2020, after the pandemic closed all city pools until late July and then only some reopened, the city experienced a surge in gun violence. Says one sociologist: "There will be problems" when people are cooped up without recreation options.

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Ex-gang members draw on their past to stop Fort Worth shootings before they happen

Nichole Manna

August 28, 2020 |

Fort Worth Star-Telegram |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Fort Worth, Texas

Inspired by a news story about a successful violence-intervention program in Richmond, California, and alarmed by a surge in gun violence in 2019, city officials in Fort Worth created VIP FW to deploy formerly incarcerated men and former gang members as mentors and mediators. In the program's startup phase, its mediations interrupted 18 potential shootings. Led by a man who pleaded for solutions at city council meetings, VIP FW intervenes in the lives of young men deemed at risk of committing violence who aren't reached by other community programs or by police enforcement.

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With a truce brokered over Zoom, one D.C. neighborhood goes nearly 100 days without a shooting

Peter Hermann

August 19, 2020 |

The Washington Post |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

Violence interrupters conducted a dozen meetings over Zoom to negotiate a truce between two warring groups in a neighborhood that went from 11 shootings in 5 months to none for at least 99 days following the truce. To mediate the personal disputes that had led to violent clashes, those leading the negotiations, from the D.C. attorney general's Cure the Streets program, used their knowledge of the community and their credibility as streetwise actors standing apart from police to strike an agreement. Truces like this often don't last long, but this one helped amid big increases in violence citywide.

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Will a gun buyback program remove weapons from Flint's criminals?

Amy Diaz

August 15, 2020 |

Flint Beat |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Flint, Michigan

A privately funded gun-buyback program is one of three core elements of the city of Flint's violence-reduction plan, but research has shown that such programs fail to make a dent in violent crime because the guns they take out of circulation were not destined to be used to commit crimes in the first place. City officials expressed hope that offering gun owners $50 to $100 to turn in their unwanted guns will reduce the city's violence. In reality, researchers said, the program might have more effect on reducing the risk of suicide. But crime guns are rarely surrendered in voluntary programs like Flint's.

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Gun Violence Left a Mark on His Childhood. He Says People Like Him Should Lead Efforts to Reduce It.

Ann Givens

August 13, 2020 |

The Trace |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

The South Central Leadership Academy was started in Los Angeles by a college student who believes that gun violence survivors like him should lead the community response in finding solutions to violence. Its first year of paying more than a dozen student survivors to learn community organizing skills succeeded in attracting funding to expand to Nashville, Baltimore, and Atlanta. COVID-19 put the latter two expansions on hold, but LA and Nashville continued with well-attended classes learning remotely. Founder Marco Vargas hopes to turn this startup into a national network of youth leadership academies.

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A West Philly grandmother decided to save summer with a PlayStreet. Then, tragedy struck.

Samantha Melamed

August 08, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia's PlayStreets program is a nearly 60-year-old program that began as a meal service during the summer "hungry season," when school lunches are not served, but has evolved into a summer camp on 300 city blocks. Fifty blocks are designated "super streets," where high levels of poverty and violence are met with extra resources. On top of the usual meals and games, the city provides play equipment, DJ dance parties, and mural making. In a summer of extreme violence, neighbors say it also provides a sense of security and normalcy, which police credit as a violence-preventive measure.

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Surveillance Planes Watch Over Baltimore, But Catch Few Criminals

J. Cavanaugh Simpson

August 05, 2020 |

Baltimore Magazine |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

In the first half of a six-month experiment, Baltimore's "wide-area surveillance" using video cameras flying above city streets to aid in crime investigations has led to only one arrest. The city's police commissioner doubts the city will agree to pay for the surveillance once private funding for the pilot project runs out, but he says he'll know more after the six-month experiment. The experiment is aimed at Baltimore's high rates of gun violence. Besides its effectiveness, critics worry about its privacy implications and that it targets mostly Black neighborhoods.

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