Community policing could cut Orange’s high homicide rate
Over the last two years, murders under the Orange County Sheriff Office’s jurisdiction have increased by 38%. During last year’s budget workshop, Sheriff John Mina was asked about the increase in murders and why there was nothing in the proposed budget to address it. His response was that, “homicide is ... one of those hard crimes to predict, to prevent.” During this year’s July 7 budget workshop, the sheriff was again questioned about the rising homicide numbers and his response was the same: they are “hard to predict, hard to prevent.”
The reality is, however, that there are a number of proven, research-based methods for preventing shootings and homicides. These methods have been around for decades and have a track record in cities all around the country. Boston, in the 1990s, reduced youth homicides by 63% using the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) method. A variation of this was used more recently in Oakland, Calif., where shootings have been cut in half. Similarly, the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago developed a program that cut shootings in half in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, one of the city’s most violent. Another program, Advance Peace, has reduced shootings by 50% and 70% in various California cities. And additional programs like Cure Violence and various hospital-based violence intervention programs across the country have been helping reduce shootings for years.
What all of these programs have in common is that they are community-based efforts that focus on the small number of individuals who are at highest risk for shooting or being shot. Even in the most dangerous neighborhoods, it’s only a fraction of one percent of the population that is responsible for the majority of the violence. A central component of the strategy is thus built around having street outreach workers — often those with prior convictions and histories of firearm use themselves — work directly with the young men who need intervention right now. These men are mentored, coached, supported, and steered toward a whole range of social services based on their individual needs in order to help them get on the right track.
It is delicate, highly specialized work, but when done correctly, these programs yield impressive results. Criminologists are big fans of these methods and the U.S. Department of Justice gives this type of work its highest rating for reducing gun violence.
Not only are these community-based methods effective, but they are highly
cost-effective. The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform calculated the taxpayer cost of violence in cities around the country. In Orange County, every shooting costs taxpayers between $830,000 and $1.6 million, and the direct cost to the Orange County budget is between $271,313 and $551,211 in court, emergency trauma, and pre-trial detention costs. This means that 58 murders plus an estimated 250 additional non-fatal shootings could easily cost the county around $100 million.
With a $2 million annual investment in a community-based organization focused on gun violence prevention, even a 30% reduction in annual shootings would save the county at least $30 million a year, not to mention the incalculable pain and suffering of the hundreds of families of both perpetrators and victims.
The Sheriff ’s Office increased its budget by $16 million last year and is asking for an additional $15 million this year. Unfortunately, in relation to reducing gun violence, simply flooding the streets with police does not work, partly because law enforcement’s main role is not to prevent shootings, but to investigate them afterward.
During the recent July 7 budget workshop, the sheriff indicated that he had actually returned $1.5 million to the county last year. This is ironic given that, as one local activist recently pointed out, efforts to get these proven methods funded in the past have met with little financial support.
We are at a critical moment in our country’s history regarding how we deal with public safety. Not only do we want relief from police violence, but we want relief from the neighborhood violence that plagues our communities every day. If there ever was a time for us to make intelligent investments in peace, that time is now.