Will violence interrupters work in Prince George鈥檚 County?
On Feb. 28, Prince George鈥檚 County announced a multi-pronged approach aimed at reversing the increase in the number of violent crimes committed by kids.
While the problem isn鈥檛 just unique to the county, leaders are hopeful that a collective of intervention efforts will have an impact by targeting kids before they commit crimes.
County Executive Angela Alsobrooks announced one of the newest tools used in the fight: a violence prevention task force.
鈥淓ach of them comes from across Prince George鈥檚 County,鈥� said Alsobrooks, speaking on the task force’s members. They 鈥渃ome from all walks of life as well, ranging from community activists [to] teachers, veterans, and even parents of gun violence victims.鈥�
Their job is to identify areas where the need to mitigate violence are known and urgent.
This task force is the county鈥檚 version of violence interrupters, which is a tool that has drawn criticism in other parts of the region. At best, the , though critics argue the reason there鈥檚 no evidence of their successes is because they aren鈥檛 successful.
But supporters of the program says the county鈥檚 efforts will be modeled off a similar initiative in Oakland, California, which they claim has proven effective, despite homicides in Oakland reaching last year.
Euniesha Davis, the county鈥檚 director of community relations, said the task force will take 鈥渁 targeted approach, a holistic approach,鈥� in its work. That means approaching at-risk kids at school and at home, including through their parents and showing them different ways to resolve conflicts.
鈥淏eing able to provide options to students, I think that鈥檚 one of the biggest problems that they may not be aware of the opportunities that exist, of the options that they have,” Davis said.
“Being able to鈥� speak to the kids [and] get down to the heart of the matter why [they鈥檙e] creating those issues,鈥� she added, 鈥渂ut also saying 鈥極K, now there are some solutions for you, there are some opportunities for you,鈥� and we just think that it鈥檚 going to work.鈥�
But Alsobrooks made clear the task force is just one tool 鈥� not the only tool 鈥� that can be an effective solution.
鈥淲e recognize that this problem is complex and that it requires a complex solution,鈥� said Alsobrooks.
She also pointed out that this isn鈥檛 her first time working to combat rising crime rates either.
鈥淲hen I came to office in 2010 we saw crime in a particular place,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 number of us came together and we were able to see a 50 percent reduction in crime over those years and how did it happen? It happened because we made investments,” she said, speaking of a number of programs like the anti-truancy effort 鈥淚 Belong Here鈥� and juvenile offender diversion program Teen Court.
鈥淏ut we also held people accountable鈥� all of those things were things that we did alongside holding the people who couldn鈥檛 be convinced that way, holding them accountable and that鈥檚 why I said it has to be multiple approaches.鈥�
