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OCWS and community groups urge coordinated prevention strategy; OCWS says capacity limited
Summary
OCWS told the committee it is mobilizing outreach and prevention partners (Promise Keepers, CRT, 414Life) and said a new critical-response protocol with MPD was convened this week; community partners asked for funding to maintain late-night outreach hours.
Karen Tyler, interim director of the Office of Community Wellness and Safety, described a public-health approach to violence mitigation that focuses on prevention, mediation and outreach in hot-spot neighborhoods around North Water Street. Tyler said OCWS has outreach teams, a floater unit of three people and a critical response team of eight, and that the office has been coordinating recently with MPD to align interventions and deploy credible messengers where incidents appear retaliatory.
Community partners including Von Mays (Promise Keepers/Conforce) emphasized prevention through relationships and asked the city to fund late-night coverage between midnight and 4 a.m. Von Mays said his small staff of a few people has prevented some incidents downtown but cannot scale without additional resources. "We operate from the side… having social capital and relationships with individuals… when we see them about to engage in certain things, they hold back," Von Mays said.
