- Jackson Police are noting a drop in gun violence this year compared to previous years.
- Police Chief Elmer Hitt says he thinks the City's "Group Violence Intervention" program is making a difference.
- The program entails a new intervention-based approach that identifies likely perpetrators and sends a group including law enforcement, a social worker, and a respected community member to talk to them.
- Video shows Jackson Police Director Elmer Hitt explaining the approach and why he thinks it's working.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
"It's a different approach than we've ever tried here in Jackson." — Jackson Police Department Director Elmer Hitt
Jackson's "Group Violence Intervention" program — how does it actually work? And is it making a difference? I went to see Police Director Elmer Hitt so I could ask him.
It's called the Group Violence Intervention program. It means that Jackson police, accompanied by a social worker and a respected community member, go talk with individuals identified as likely to engage in violence...before that actually happens. The people are identified in the first place as police talk with community members.
Hitt says this is the message they deliver in the program: "We'll help you if you let us, we'll stop you if you make us."
Is the approach working? Police say this year has seen a decrease in gun violence. And Hitt says his personal experience with the interventions has been positive.
"The ones I've been on have been well-received," says Hitt. "They're non-confrontational. I think the fact that it's just not law enforcement on somebody's doorstep. That it involves somebody known in the community — a credible voice from the community, but also you have someone from the social services aspect that can talk to them about some of the services that are available, what services are you currently receiving that you may or may not be taking advantage of."
Hitt says it's an approach designed to keep people "safe, alive, and out of prison".
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