Spring 2000

• In Philadelphia's 24th police district in 1998, there were 12 murder victims between the ages of 7-24. There were two in 1999.
  
  
• Baltimore's Park Heights District usually averages 20 violent incidences per week. In the eight weeks just before press time, there were a total of four.

Because they represent small geographic areas and the trends are so recent, these two bits of good news can only be viewed as anecdotes without definitive causes. They suggest, however, that Philadelphia Safe and Sound and Baltimore's Safe and Sound Campaign are on the right track with their anti-violence strategies.

Working with large coalitions with members from the criminal justice arena, social services, the faith community, neighborhood groups and others, these two local Urban Health Initiative campaigns are attacking youth violence through a strategy that combines strict law enforcement with supporting services. It is initially being applied in specific neighborhoods, but will expand to other parts of the cities over time.

Known as the Youth Violence Reduction Project in Philadelphia and Operation Safe Neighborhoods in Baltimore, the strategies are based on Boston's Operation Cease Fire, which is credited with producing dramatic results against Boston's epidemic of violence. Murders of victims aged 24 and under (Baltimore and Philadelphia also target this age group) fell more than 70% in Boston in the two years after Operation Cease Fire began. David Kennedy, senior researcher at Harvard University and a key architect of Operation Cease Fire, consults for Baltimore's and Philadelphia's initiatives.

Hathaway Ferebee, executive director of Baltimore's Safe and Sound Campaign, says the strategy involves two promises to the community. "The first promise is that violent behavior is no longer tolerated," she says. "The second is that we will help those who might otherwise engage in this type of behavior to turn their lives around."

Promise 1: Stop it, or else

Implementation begins with gathering and analyzing data to an extent rare in crime fighting. Doing this legwork is difficult and time consuming, but it enhances the effectiveness of the strategy. Among other things, it pinpoints where violence most often occurs, identifies the most likely perpetrators and victims of violence, highlights areas in the most need of additional probation and social services, and shows the level of commitment needed to improve the situation.

With analysis that identifies the relatively few individuals responsible for the majority of violence and the locales where it occurs the most, police, probation officers, prosecutors and the courts lead the new, intolerant attitude toward violence.

"Call-ins" are held during which likely perpetrators are given the unmistakable message that violence will no longer be tolerated. Clear standards for behavior are set with the promise that every "lever" legally available will be used when those standards are violated.

These levers include, for example, the serving of outstanding warrants, vehicle impounding, strict probation and parole enforcement, stronger bail term requests, the possibility of very severe federal prosecution and stiffer plea bargains.

Probation often includes specific restrictions involving geography (e.g., perpetrator can't be on the corner of streets X and Y, an area known for drug activity) or peers (e.g., perpetrator can't associate with specific individuals). Police and probation officers provide strict surveillance of these "youth partners".

"This changes the game dramatically," says Ferebee. "Perpetrators now know that the cost of violent behavior has soared. Rather than the response to violence being uncertain, slow, often not very severe, it has become certain, rapid and severe. This is an efficient way to conduct law enforcement - it's strategic, targeted at behavior and brings together different parts of the system."

Promise 2: We'll help

In addition to law enforcement, members of the coalitions in Baltimore and Philadelphia are service providers, clergy, community residents and others who participate in the call-ins and help those involved in violence and their families to turn their lives around.

"We can't arrest our way out of the problem," says Naomi Post, executive director of Philadelphia Safe and Sound, "so we also support the people who want out." These avenues out include alternative education opportunities, job training, drug and alcohol counseling for the entire family, and clergy intervention.

"Just as intensive as the surveillance by probation and police is the supportive service component delivered by the streetworkers," says Post. "In a way they are the youth partners advocates. They visit kids in their homes, refer them to recreational or employment opportunities, take them to games or to church, meet with their parents and get involved with the whole family." Streetworkers also meet with probation officers regularly to compare perspectives and develop appropriate interventions.

The Healing Hands Working Group in Baltimore provides triage for those wanting help. It determines what services are available and helps get the youth connected to them, even physically connecting them by providing transportation.

Safe and Sound's role

The respective Safe and Sound organizations in Baltimore and Philadelphia took the lead in deciding to pursue the strategy and for putting together their coalitions, which they co-chair. "Given the nature and magnitude of the problem in Philadelphia (118 homicides of people aged 24 and under in 1999) Safe and Sound wanted to put its effort into something with demonstrated success," says Post.

"Plus, we broker relationships among the multiple agencies needed to pull it off," she adds. "We find ways to support and resource the effort. As needs present themselves, Safe and Sound responds. For example, we secured a grant and a match to pay for the streetworkers, we identified clergy to participate, we identify and find needed ancillary services like visiting nurses, we gather and analyze a lot of data."

Lessons learned

Both of these efforts are just underway and involve specific neighborhoods, and both will expand geographically over time. Meanwhile, important lessons have already been learned:

New roles. "This involves a significantly different role for probation officers," says Post. "They are usually an arm of law enforcement, but in this effort not only do they join in the intensive surveillance and supervision, they also fill a social service role by assessing needs and matching those in their caseload with appropriate programs." Post believes it would have helped to start the training for these new roles earlier.

Constituency building. Homicides are weapons-driven, so suppressing gun availability is a big issue, notes Post. However, in Pennsylvania even the most minimal gun control measures have failed. However the newly elected leadership in Philadelphia has joined other cities in their suit against gun manufacturers. "We need to raise public awareness, build more of a constituency around the issue and embrace communities outside Philadelphia," she says.

Security. "Members of the targeted community eagerly joined in the planning, but when the strict law enforcement and the call-in occurred, we found that they were not quite as ready to digest the approach," says Ferebee. "In people's minds questions arose like, 'Am I a snitch, and does that make me vulnerable?' People have to be secure that perpetrators will be prosecuted and sentenced and not back on the street."

Fairness. "The job of the police is to make arrests, but the community has to trust that it's done fairly," says Ferebee. "Law enforcement makes the promise that the strict enforcement will be fair, respectful and vigorous, and will involve sound detective work, prosecution and sentencing."

So far, officials in both cities are optimistic and encouraged. "Violence is so severe in some communities that it impedes many other things we'd like to do to improve the health and safety of children," says Ferebee. "Now, there's a buzz about this, and it's galvanized the community around a common effort."