Over 30 mayors attended the workshop on Community Policing to Prevent Gun Violence and Promote Gun Safety at the Annual Conference of Mayors in Seattle on Monday, June 12.

Moderated by Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin, the workshop focused on the important role of community policing in gun violence prevention and deterrence. Specifically, the workshop outlined community policing programs aimed at curbing youth access to handguns; programs designed to teach young people the consequences of gun violence; successful prosecution partnerships to stem juvenile firearms violence; and innovative ways to teach young people about gun safety. In addition to a discussion by Mayors and police officials, the Director of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) at the U.S. Department of Justice outlined the future of the COPS Program and offered his insights into the future of community policing.

"This program really is community policing at its finest," Griffin said in introducing his city’s Kid’s Korner Team, a program designed to prevent situations such as those that preceded the shooting of the Michigan schoolgirl on February 29. "This is an example of true partnerships and it is the key to our success," he added. "It is important to empower your people and then let them go."

Under the program, Reno police officers, joined by a Reno public health nurse, form a "knock and talk" rescue effort to examine the living conditions of small children in Reno’s poorest neighborhoods. The Kid’s Korner Team provides intervention for families with extreme problems to ensure non-violent outcomes to emergency situations.

"This program targets our transient population moving into Reno to work in the casinos, but unable to afford an apartment," Reno Chief of Police Jerry Hoover told the session. "These police officers provide positive role models for some of these children in single parent families."

Seattle Mayor Paul Schell introduced his city’s Juvenile Firearms Prosecution Partnership which developed a specialized juvenile firearms prosecutor position created through a grant funded partnership between the Seattle Police Department and the King County Prosecutor’s Office. "Partnerships, partnerships, partnerships in prevention," Mayor Schell emphasized to the participants. "It is the cornerstone of our success and will be for yours as well."

"We need to use community strategies using all of our resources in partnership to successfully reduce gun violence," echoed Seattle Assistant Chief John Pirak. Firearms cases were filed faster, the pretrial dismissal rate was reduced by 50 percent, the number of cases going to trial doubled, and more juvenile offenders were booked into custody and detained under the program, according to Bob Scales, Deputy Prosecutor for the King County’s Prosecutors Office.

Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf profiled her city’s Options, Choices and Consequences program, a youth gun violence and prevention awareness project that is part of the City of Virginia Beach’s Campaign Against Violence. The program focuses on 9th grade students in Virginia Beach public schools and is modeled on a program begun in Seattle. The Options, Choices and Consequences class presentation involves a police officer, a commonwealth attorney and a physician/nurse, speaking about the consequences of gun violence and the options young people have, as well as the choices they can make to avoid gun violence. "We want our youth to think and understand that there are available alternatives to the use of firearms," Mayor Orberndorf said. "This program targets 9th graders and their parents," Virginia Beach Police Captain Steve Smith added." "Make sure to include the parents as it is important to educate the community as a whole on gun violence prevention."

Thomas C. Frazier, Director of CPOS addressed the session and outlined new initiatives at the COPS Office as well as the future of the COPS program. "The bulk of the money this year is in universal hiring. Also, COPS in Schools is a very popular program and there is money in this program as well – $125,000 per officer over three years.

"The COPS Program was authorized for five years, and on September 31, 2000, this authorization expires. Senator Biden has introduced S.1760 in the Senate, and Representative Weiner has introduced H.R. 3144 in the House reauthorizing the COPS Office so the status has yet to be determined," Frazier added.

"It is important to remember that 82 to 83 percent of our grants are for under five officers, so we are very sensitive to policing issues in rural and smaller communities," Frazier said in closing the session.

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