Preventing Violence (Prevention Institute)

http://www.preventioninstitute.org/focus-areas/preventing-violence-and-reducing-injury/preventing-violence.html

Creating a Healthy and Safe City: The Impact of Violence in New Haven (2011)
New Haven Health Department

Executive Summary (Short Version)
http://healthmattersnh.net/community/creating-a-healthy-and-safe-city

Full Report (with Maps, Charts etc.)
http://ctdatahaven.org/know/index.php/File:Creating_a_Healthy_and_Safe_City_2011_sml.pdf

Vital Partners: Mayors and Police Chiefs Working Together for America's Children and Youth (2006)
National League of Cities and Institute for Youth, Education and Families

This report features a discussion of New Haven's and other cities' past or present efforts to prevent crime.

"The partnership among the city, police, Yale Child Study Center, probation, child protection, and other community agencies rests firmly on a commitment to community oriented policing and extensive communication. Police are deployed throughout the city, and neighborhood-based substations support both police and community activity. Verrelli asserts that “Community oriented policing means we keep our guys in the neighborhood. Some of the guys are in neighborhoods on bikes. Their job is to know the players. We do prevention and intervention. For example, we show up unannounced at the door of a person convicted of domestic violence. The accused knows he’s being watched, the victim knows we are available, the kids know we care, and everybody feels safer.” The CDCP program is one of the prime reasons that crime in New Haven has dropped by 61 percent since 1991."

http://www.nlc.org/ASSETS/BCA95FE5918447BB90BFDCF69954B623/IYEF_COPS_report.pdf

Why not organize a group of voters who are not happy with this administration at the shop where he worked, and do a voters registration drive and keep it up until we have a couple of thousand votes we can deliver on elections day, and get rid of John Destefano. A new adminstration means change all throughout the administrations, in all departments. VOTING IS GOING TO BE THE KEY OTHERWISE OUR PROTESTING WILL GO UNHEARD.

Police have long called 3pm-6pm the "Danger Zone" as its the time that unsupervised kids learn all about trouble: experiment with juvenile crime, sex, drugs and alcohol, etc. http://www.afterschoolallstars.org/site/pp.aspx?c=enJJKMNpFmG&b=854685&printmode=1

We need schools open after school hours, safe neighborhood places for youth to gather, afterschool programming, and jobs youth unemployment is up to 80% (as compared to 2003 data).

If we do not pitch in to hep raise these kids, the streets will.

New Haven must have the resolve to stop the violence. It most definitely means a partnership with the community--it is so hackneyed by now to talk about shared responsibility. Well in fact- if you work in New Haven and don't live here; if you own a business in New Haven and don't live here; if you take part in the cultural and entertainment offered by New Haven; if you go to one of the most prestigious universities in the world ; you are take part of this community. Please understand that what happens in New Haven does not have to stay in New Haven. It is your community and you should take time for the young people who live here, who are striving for a good education and who want so much to contribute to the strength of New Haven. I think you would expect the same of New Haveners if you're community needed support in similiar circumstances. Our kids are your kids too. Violence can not be tolerated anywhere.

We need more police out on the streets - not to incite trouble, but to prevent it.

Sarah- do police who sit in their cars and live in the suburbs , as 90% of cops do, count as "on the streets."???
Or do we need a different approach eg community policing?

New research brief, out today from Equality Trust:

http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/publications/research-digest-1-violent-crime-web

"There is near consensus within academia concerning the link between inequality and violent crime. Indeed, as seemingly small reductions in income inequality can lead to sizeable falls in violent crime, these findings have powerful policy implications.... 'Crime reduction policies that ignore income inequality relinquish much of their potential impact on reducing homicide.' "

In addition to the documents posted earlier, here are a couple slightly older ones that are relevant to the local discussion.

1. 2009 "photovoice" report on youth violence New Haven (this was also displayed last year at the New Haven Public Library)

http://ctdatahaven.org/know/index.php/File:RWJF_Photovoice_Report_YouthViolence_2009.pdf

2. 2009 New Haven Family Alliance Street Outreach Worker Program: Evaluation Report

http://ctdatahaven.org/know/index.php/File:NewHaven_SOW_Evaluation_Report_6-2009.pdf

The only people who are going to be able to stop the violence and crime happening in our communities are the people who are committing the acts of violence and crime in our communities. The rest of us have to convince them to stop. It's not going to happen unless we directly engage them... build relationships with them... understand what they want and push them to go after it.

I don't think we need more programs. I think we need to fund the ones that make real impact. More importantly I think we need to fund the PEOPLE who are on the ground making direct differences.

When the quality of life and public safety everywhere in our city becomes everyones concern then we can stop gun violence. When everyone asks the question - how do guns find there way into the streets of New Haven and demand an answer then we can stop gun violence. When we decide that no -one has the answer and that the solution will only result from true collective action then we can stop gun violence. When tragedy isn't the trigger for collective outrage, but is replaced with the genuine belief that we as citizens are better off when everyone is safe and we act accordingly then we can stop gun violence. We, the collective we that crosses neighborhood boundaries, racial lines, socio-economic differences and all the other things that keep us in our silos decide that will not not stand for gun violence in our city then we will witness its elimination. If we muster the will to take a stand as full participants in community life we can stop gun violence.

I agree with what Kevin and Barbara had to say about this. A couple more new links of interest:

Community Dialogues with Chief Limon and Patrol Officers on Creating Community-Police Partnerships
http://cmi.community-mediation.org/2011/03/a-community-dialogue-with-chief-limon-and-patrol-officers-on-creating-community-police-partnerships/

News article about this discussion
http://www.newhavensafestreets.org/2011/03/petition-to-stop-violence-in-new-haven.html

Please post anything else that you feel is relevant to the discussion.

Another person wants this fixed

In order to truly mend New Haven's violence we must address the root of the issue. Obscuring the problem with rhetoric about police and engaging "them" will only further confuse and alienate. Those who have died or seen their lives tragically altered due to violence and crime deserve better than brief talking points and partisan rhetoric.

"pop pop pop
when he's shot who's to blame:
Headlines front page and Raps the name"

-Time for another movement-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bzU6YycLv0

(1)First we must recognize,acknowledge, articulate and incorporate the root causes of crime and violence in the discussion or we continue to spit in the wind". (distressed community, high unemployment, youth pushed out of school, minmal recreation , employment and socialization opportunities, loss of parents to the prison system, pent up anger, pain , drug abuse and more), (2) Those most impacted by the violence must be motivated and willing to get off the sofa and from behind the curtains and become engaged in the process of ending it . (3) A huge part of that process is engaging those who are responsible for the violence ,not so much for punishment as to find out why they are involved in this behavior and where they are accessing these weapons. ****Must work on root causes***. Raising the level of punishment for those who don't really care a lot about themselves or envision a successful future is not the answer. Hurt people, hurt people, Police can help and yet they haven't because they are not invested in this community and not interested in community policing.They are in many ways part of the problem; therefore they are not the most effective means of resolve.

Those are good ideas, Barbara.

Other ideas were offered today by a community group in Newhallville:

"'Desperate' steps needed to curb violence, New Haven's Newhallville civic leaders say; curfews, offender registry discussed" (NH Register 3/29/11)
http://nhregister.com/articles/2011/03/29/news/new_haven/aa3neccc032811.txt

Excerpt

Jefferson unveiled the group’s proposals by saying, “These are desperate times. They require desperate measures.” The group offered several ideas:

--Creation of a violent offender registry. Jefferson said community leaders would set up the list, “to give law-abiding citizens the right to say whether they want to be around such a person.”

--Raising the mandatory minimum sentence for anyone convicted of criminal possession of a firearm from two years to five years.

--Instituting an anti-gang injunction to name high-risk offenders. This would be modeled after one in Oakland, Calif. Jefferson said those named would be prohibited from specific activities, such as hanging out in a certain area and associating with some individuals in a neighborhood. They would be subject to an evening curfew.

--Jefferson also called on suburban police departments to help stop guns flowing from those towns into New Haven.

Please post more ideas and discussion here. Thanks!

Update - it sounds like the city is trying to address Petition Item #5, which is good news. See http://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/99069. It would help if folks who have signed this petition could call their reps and ask them to help address the range relocation issue.

What about #1-#4?

More ideas:

Limon: Let’s Explore Curfew (4/28/11)
http://newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/chief_limon_on_a_curfew_for_kid/

Please keep posting more here.

The NHI has more coverage and context regarding New Haven crime issues at http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/three_more_shot_overnight.

Under "Show Older Comments", you can scroll down on the SeeClickFix page to see additional articles and reports.

Cameras are being added to street corners in New Haven. This might be one step in helping to address some of the concerns in this petition: We'll have to monitor the results and see.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/cameras_trained_on_hot_corners/

An interesting story on violence reduction planning in New Haven.
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/gang_kennedy/

Please keep posting ideas here and circulate this petition.

Another piece about violence discussions at City Hall
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/amid_violence_a_call_for_cooperation/

Impact of Violence on Local Economies
http://ceasefirechicago.org/education/effect-of-violence-on-local-economies

Aldermen want a gun buy back

http://nhregister.com/articles/2012/02/14/news/new_haven/doc4f398a4ba324a232860282.txt

Are the new walking beats in your neighborhood effective? Are they still operating? Comment here.

Our downtown #ward7 walking beats are still in action and effective. What about other wards?

There was a SCF pop up with this link, so there must be an effort to get this going again.
The source of most of the gun violence in the city is a very small number of people and the cops apparently know who many of them are. Direct intervention is being tried with the very people carrying guns illegally and using them illegally. A new effort was in the news today of federal and local law and human services teams that are about to try this in New Haven.

Apparently they plan to contact known gang/group members with history of gun activity and do a sit down with PD and social workers who will tell them they are part of a community and what impact they are having on it. Ways out of the life will be offered, including employment and educational support. Apparently, they will be told that if they do not take advantage of this way out, they will be hyper-policed. In other words, they will be watched continuously and cited and arrested for anything they do that is illegal, every infraction, every crime etc. The eye will stay on them.

Interesting, and they say it has worked elsewhere.

Re -- gun tracing: Knowing where the guns are coming from is good to know. The problem is that it is sooo incredibly easy to buy guns in some states, like Va (or is it W. Va?)

The guns are pretty much legal when they leave the factory.

At some point, a number of them fall into illegal transactions.

Some of them come from straw buyers at local gun shops here in Connecticut. Gun shops here have been caught for this - knowingly selling to a straw buyer. A straw buyer is a legal buyer who is reselling to those with no legal right to own a gun, such as convicted felons. Some straw buyers come back repeatedly, so the shop knows it. Others bring the felon with them to the store.

I read of one case here in Connecticut and was surprised to see how long it takes authorities to deal with the gun shop and how light the punishment is, even when the sale can be traced to the use of the weapon in a murder. I would like it to be much more severe for gun shops when the evidence of their knowledge is sure. This gun shop knew they were selling to a straw buyer and no one doesn't know what that means. That shop owner sold it, knowing it could be used for murder and did it to make a buck. It's disgusting.

But, again, with other states being so lax, it is only a national, regional, state by state effort that will help in terms of the availability of guns.

Rural areas without urban gun problems have a hard time understanding why they should be subjected to heavy regulation and more intrusions into their privacy because cities can't solve their problems with violence. Wacko NRA extremism obscures the fact that there are reasonable people living in a totally different kind of America who resent having to pay for our urban problems and can barely conceive of them. Not that there is not gun violence in rural places but you know what I mean.

There are rural areas in America where it is truly prudent to have an old shotgun, if not for a rabid animal then a freak intruder. If your sheriff is an hour away driving, even if you have a phone (And many don't have any cell phone reception or landlines).

So anyway, out front protecting both their interests plus the interests of a bunch of wackos is the NRA. NRA seems to have a strategy that works of acting crazy and unreasonable almost 100-percent of the time.

Mayor Bloomberg in New York -- this is one of the issues he goes national about all the time. He knows it is going to take cooperation. For example, guns are coming up the eastern seaboard from places like Va (or W.VA -- again, can't remember which) He has to use every other strategy to lessen gun violence and can't rely on tight regulation of gun sales elsewhere. Same here in New Haven.

"--Instituting an anti-gang injunction to name high-risk offenders. This would be modeled after one in Oakland, Calif. Jefferson said those named would be prohibited from specific activities, such as hanging out in a certain area and associating with some individuals in a neighborhood. They would be subject to an evening curfew."

This idea was mentioned on the list above -- I think this is a horrendous idea as it is so unconstitutional it is not funny unless that person is on probation and these things are required as part of their probation, part of their sentence.

Freedom of association, freedom to walk down a particular public street, etc. taking that away is plain illegal. It declares certain people, not behavior, as illegal and where is the due process? Without even being charged and convicted of anything? By virtue of being well-known as a jerk or a menace or undesirable? And no oversight on who declares it? no process? This is the worst idea ever and similar stuff has rightly been attacked by progressive legal advocates.

The new program announced for new haven I think is a better approach, which is, take this incredibly good way out or be policed so hard you can't take it. It's brilliant because the way out offered is jobs and education. If that offer is real, these kids will be crazy not to go for it

Also, regarding the Beaver Hills/Newhallville point in this petition, I hear that bombs are being set off at the outdoor firing range as part of training exercises. This petition covers shooting at the range, which is very disturbing to local residents, but I think we can extend it to include large explosion noises as well.

Update: Interesting NHR headline article today with more solutions discussed.

Many reasons violence in New Haven is heading down; 2012 has seen reduction in homicides, shootings
Dec 31 2012 By Shahid Abdul-Karim
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/12/31/news/new_haven/doc50e0fde65bc1d421602685.txt?viewmode=fullstory

I like these quotes from Mr. Castillo:

“Crime is related to social-economic conditions, lack of employment, and desperation issues; these issues cause idle time and folk relapse into drug use and guns for survival,” Castillo said.

“Businesses in the community need some type of tax break or incentive to hire ex-felons and our young people.”

Ive made numerous calls to NHPD abouy drug dealing and other serious issues going on in my neighborhood (Farren Ave.). I was assured it was going to be handled. Well, several months later, these thugs are still out here going strong with their criminal activity. It seems my calls and pleas are in vain . NHPD knows who these perpetrators are and lets them terrorize the neighborhood without impunity. I was asked by one sergeant why I don't move. Why is it, that good people are being told they should have to move out of their home? Shouldn't the criminals be ran out? What fi I owned instead of rented? Its not so easy to just up and leave when you own a home. This is sad that these criminals are running the neighborhood and we aren't being protected. Its just empty promise after empty promise.

Ive made numerous calls to NHPD abouy drug dealing and other serious issues going on in my neighborhood (Farren Ave.). I was assured it was going to be handled. Well, several months later, these thugs are still out here going strong with their criminal activity. It seems my calls and pleas are in vain . NHPD knows who these perpetrators are and lets them terrorize the neighborhood without impunity. I was asked by one sergeant why I don't move. Why is it, that good people are being told they should have to move out of their home? Shouldn't the criminals be ran out? What fi I owned instead of rented? Its not so easy to just up and leave when you own a home. This is sad that these criminals are running the neighborhood and we aren't being protected. Its just empty promise after empty promise.

Items in petition have not been addressed.

Here in The Hill, we need INTELLIGENT, RESPONSIBLE leadership!! THere is no one on the BOA who is representing this area and its NUMEROUS issues of health and well being!! There never was and there isn't now!!!

We are trying to delineate issues that are current and need the city's attention to resolve. Any issues prior to 2013 are being closed. If your issue remains and needs to be addressed by the city, please either re-open or open as a new See Click Fix issue. Thanks.