BALTIMORE — In an effort to reduce violent crime in Baltimore City, City leaders rolled out a multifaceted plan they said has been proven in other cities to reduce crime.
They’re hopeful the plan will do the same in Baltimore.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said this is a new approach that will bring different agencies together to tackle crime.
The Community Violence Intervention plan, or CVI, is what city leaders debuted Wednesday.
It’s a multifaceted approach to reducing crime using an ecosystem composed of city leaders, police, hospital professionals all coming together to tackle the public health epidemic.
Scott said tackling the trauma that happens after a violent incident has been no easy task for city leaders or those on the streets intervening.
“I know the city is more than the trauma that’s so many of us face each and every day,” Scott said.
It’s part of the reason why Mayor Scott unveiled his community violence intervention plan. It’s a public health approach with support from the Biden administration to reduce violence in the community while investing 10 million dollars in ARPA funding and receiving help from several city agencies to do it.
“ CVI is about evidence based programs and strategies designed to reduce violent crime by building relationships with the people at the center of the violence itself,”.
People at the center of violence like safe streets workers who often intervene in violent attacks and hospital professionals who treat victims of gun violence to name a few.
“ Making a connection and providing immediate support to gunshot victims in the hospital is essential to preventing retaliation and re-victimization,” Scott said.
Strengthening responder-based programs like neighborhood stabilization responses, conflict mediation and violence intervention are some of the key components of this plan.
“ The expansion of this ecosystem will manifest in four ways, redefining and building Baltimore’s existing conflict and mediation violence intervention programming, developing stronger partnerships with Baltimore area hospital partners, expanding intensive life coaching services, and for the first time ever focusing on victim services,” Scott said.
Some of the services would include things like emotional support for victims of gun violence and safe streets workers who are often traumatized by helping others work through their trauma.
It’s something Safe streets workers like Kevin Himple who’s a violence prevention coordinator knows all too well.
“ So I started out as a hospital respondent responding to individuals who were shot. I have several friends that I lost to gun violence. We deal with trauma on a day-to-day basis, we’re not only dealing with it directly but we’re also dealing with other people’s trauma that leads to us having mental issues. I know everybody wants to see the killing and shooting stop so it doesn’t just take Safe Streets to do the job it takes everybody in the community, Himple said.
“ A public health approach to reducing violence requires coproduction and of course coordination,” Scott said.
Establishing and implementing the vision for community violence intervention is very complex and this only gives an outline of the ground work that’s being done. To learn more about CVI and to view what the full plan entails click here.
