New agency targets city gun violence
Department tries to identify possible offenders before they commit crimes
Hartford’s young men have been dying from and incarcerated for gun violence for decades, despite tireless advocacy and policing. The city’s new mayor plans to focus on identifying possible offenders long before they commit a crime to stem the violence.
Mayor Arunan Arulampalam announced Monday the creation of a new office aimed at fostering communication and collaboration between multiple nonprofit agencies, the city, and the public. The mayor said the creation of a violence prevention office was one of his major priorities in his first 100 days.
Chavon Campbell, who was appointed to head the new Office of Crime Prevention last week, has worked in compliance and data management for Hartford Communities that Care, as a data analyst for Trinity Health of New England and as a minister at the Greater Hartford Church of Christ.
“Meeting with the police department, I asked them why they think this keeps happening?” Campbell said. “One of the barriers they’re seeing is just sometimes people are hurt. A lot of interpersonal issues are creating these acts of violence. It’s not just gangs. COVID has affected a lot of this as well, just being isolated and navigating how to come back into the community. It’s social-emotional learning. It’s that mental health piece that is so important.”
But he said he is most proud of his new role with the city leading violence prevention efforts, and that his work history has geared him well for the new position.
“It gives me a specific background for working with all types of people who have dealt with trauma,” Campbell said. “Intervention is different, prevention is all about a holistic approach. The mission is to provide a safer community for all the residents in Hartford, it is a team effort. I don’t try to play the role of Superman, I can’t do this by myself.”
The Office of Violence Prevention will seek to be a bridge between the city and multiple stakeholders, including nonprofits like COMPASS Youth Collaborative, ROCA Hartford, and Hartford Communities that Care. The hope is that through sharing data and metrics, the city can piece together the best strategies to help prevent crime and guide policy decisions.
“As we talk about public safety, so often the conversation becomes synonymous with police,” Arulampalam said. “But our police can’t solve every problem in the community, we put so much into
that bucket already. Our police are such an important and invaluable tool in the response to public safety, but they can’t be the entire toolbox.”
Hartford experienced a sharp increase in shootings in 2020 and 2021. But the numbers decreased last year and are now showing a two-year decline.
In 2023, there were 98 nonfatal shooting victims — less than half of the 211 Hartford saw in 2020. And the number was down by 28% from 2022, according to a report in the outgoing Mayor Luke Bronin’s transition binder.
But while the number of nonfatal shooting victims last year was lower than any year since 2006, homicides still remain high.
There were 28 homicides from gun violence in Hartford in 2023.
While that’s a significant drop from 39 homicides in 2022, it remains higher than in 2019 when 23 people were killed by gun violence in the city, according to police.
“Everyone has a population they are working with and is doing really important work,” Arulampalam said. “But it’s not their job to look at the broader community and figure out whether coordination is working. That’s something city hall can serve a really important role doing. If we can interrupt cycles of violence, so we’re reaching people before 911 ever gets called, we can build a stronger and more resilient society together.”
The mayor, who took a jab at some in the city who have championed armed citizen defense patrols, said that the way to reduce crime is to look at the data and coordinate efforts between agencies.
He said the way to reduce crime is to focus on prevention, long before police get involved.
Under the new office, the mayor said that community policing will continue to be the focus, with the police department taking an active role.
“I continue to discourage anybody from going out with a weapon and looking for trouble in our community,” Arulampalam said in front of several nonprofit and city violence prevention advocates. “What you see behind me is the solution in how to keep the community safe.”
But it’s not just Hartford seeking to prevent gun violence before it happens.
President Biden established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention last year, with the intent to implement and expand upon key executive and legislative actions.
Hartford’s newly created office, modeled closely off the White House’s program, will seek to coordinate with the federal government for both funding and data sharing, Arulampalam said.
The focus on gun violence prevention comes after the American Medical Association called gun violence in the United States “a public health crisis” requiring a comprehensive public health response and solution. Several other cities around the country have set up similar offices in hopes of curbing the gun violence epidemic.
“In the past we’ve all done really great work on our own, in our silos,” said Jacquelyn Santiago, CEO of COMPASS Youth Collaborative. “We are acknowledging this work can’t be done by one individual. It has to be from the streets all the way to the policy level. Getting an office means there will be more coordination, more ability to leverage resources, and opportunities for us to really collaborate and work on those data pieces to really see as a whole how we can make that difference.”