We know what we need to do to curb gun violence

By
Brenda Konkel
-

We have all the recommendations, we just don’t have the follow through/political will to put the needed money in the budget.Clearly what we have been doing has not been working:

COUNCIL ACTIONS

2005

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mayor and City Clerk are authorized to enter into a Purchase of Service Agreement, through the Office of Community Services, with the Urban League of Greater Madison in the amount of $24,288 for the period April 1 through September 30, 2005 with additional authorization of extension of the agreement through March 31, 2006 if granted by the Office of Justice Assistance; and

2006

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2012

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2015

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2020

UNFOLLOWED/PARTIALLY FOLLOWED RECOMMENDATIONS

From the Ad Hoc Committee on Police Policy and Procedure (page 55):

Recommendation #40:

The Mayor and Common Council should further expand the use of a public health approach to curb violent crimes.

[Community E-mail #34]

Discussion: This recommendation came to the Committee via email from a community member, and it strikes us as an important reminder about the limitations of relying solely on police to solve the problem of violence in our community. While the charge to this Committee—and hence the bulk of this report—has been to address the strengths and weaknesses of the MPD, it must always be kept in mind that police are but one part of the solution to violent crime. It is essential that the City not focus so much on the police that it overlooks other aspects of the problem and the solution.

Violent crime is a public health issue. Violence can be prevented, and its impact reduced by public health approaches, just as public health efforts have prevented and reduced infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies, pregnancy-related complications, and workplace injuries. Violence can be encouraged or discouraged by contextual social, biological, and environmental factors. Moreover, as first recognized by epidemiologists, violence has many of the properties of a contagious disease—including person-to-person transmission across social networks.  Rather than seeing violence as a side-effect of moral characteristics (bad guys doing bad things), a public health lens reframes violence as a preventable disease, which can be cured with the help of the community.

A public health approach is interdisciplinary and science-based. The body of evidence for the efficacy of such an approach in preventing violence is extensive and growing. The basic methodology involves understanding the problem through data collection and analysis, designing interventions and policies to tackle the problem using multiple services, monitoring and evaluating the impact of interventions, and modifying practice to scale up and use the strategies found to be most successful.

This provides a set of approaches separate from and complementary to policing. An extensive body of research has found that, in American cities, expansion of police force size has minimal effects on violent crime rates, though innovative policing strategies (e.g., increased use of problem-oriented policing) can have a beneficial impact. Meanwhile, research shows that investment in efficacious public health approaches can achieve a large reduction in violent crime.

For example, Cure Violence, a Chicago-based NGO, uses a public health perspective to help cities around the world reduce their gun violence levels, using the methods and strategies of disease control. Under this model, a city responds to outbreaks of violent behavior with three common epidemic-control methods: interrupting transmission, containing the risk, and changing community norms. It has been proven successful through rigorous, independent, scientific evaluations, showing large statistically significant reductions in violence where implemented.

Advance Peace is another such program. Advance Peace grew out of the Richmond, CA, Office of Neighborhood Safety program. Richmond experienced a 76% reduction in homicides after implementation of this program,19 and the reduction appears largely attributable to the program. The approach identifies the individuals and groups at the very highest risk of gun violence in a city and engages those individuals, offering positive developmental support (e.g. setting life goals, providing a stipend and transformative travel experiences, etc.) and working to shift norms.

As noted in “What Works to Prevent Urban Violence Among Proven Risk Young Men? The Safe and Successful Youth Initiative Evidence and Implementation Review,” there are two common features of the most effective such programs: “1. Using street outreach workers. 2. Providing positive development supports to high-risk persons.”20

A somewhat different type of model is that implemented by the Urban Peace/Advancement Project in high crime Los Angeles neighborhoods. This has been referred to as an asset-based, multi-sector approach to crime and public safety, and has proven very successful. As the “Vision Plan for a Safe and Healthy Watts” notes:

When working with communities that have been historically isolated, agencies often use a needs-based approach that focuses on the problems and needs of the community and assumes public or private sector agencies will provide services to an area. When trying to achieve transformational changes, this approach is often ineffective as it treats the community as a client rather than a partner.

In contrast, an asset-based approach honors and mobilizes individual and community talents, skills, and assets; and promotes community-driven development rather than development driven by external agencies. Gang-entrenched neighborhoods, in particular, require special community expertise from stakeholders experiencing or witnessing the day-to-day violence. This asset-based approach fosters authentic partnerships by identifying and nurturing community strengths in ways that directly enhance public safety and health efforts.

Multi-sector collaboration is vital; without the support and buy-in of residents and organizations working in the area, policy and program efforts – no matter how remarkable – are ultimately unsustainable. Authentic engagement of diverse disciplines, sectors, and resident perspectives ensures the development of solutions that honor and nurture existing community assets and leadership. Successful implementation of violence reduction and prevention strategies centers on real community input and lasting engagement, community’s ownership over the solutions, and intentional capacity building of community residents and stakeholders to sustain collaboration and momentum.

The resultant Comprehensive Violence Reduction Strategy in Los Angeles links all the elements of violence reduction with community development, cultural transformation, multi-jurisdictional coordination, and accountability. Some of the components of this program include training and deployment of violence interrupters/gang interventionists (similar to Cure Violence), an initiative to provide alternative activities and jobs for youth in parks during peak hours of gang activity, and a specialized neighborhood-oriented policing program (that actively discourages citations and arrests for minor offenses, while building relationships and trust through provision of services unrelated to law enforcement). Where implemented, this program appears to have resulted in up to a 90% reduction in violent crime.

In this context, it is important to recognize that violence is regulated through informal sources of social control arising from residents and organizations internal to communities. Local nonprofit groups that focus on reducing violence and building stronger communities (e.g., community nonprofits that respond to violence by cleaning streets, building playgrounds, mentoring children and employing young men) have a real effect on crime rates. Research indicates that every 10 additional such organizations in a city with 100,000 residents reduce the rate of violent crime by 6% and the homicide rate by 9%.

The Sottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU) represents another successful similar program, using a multi-sector public health approach, with heavy reliance on community members and organizations— including mentors, workers in hospital emergency departments, employment programs, school programs, programs to reduce adverse childhood experiences, etc. The SVRU defines its work as “a public health approach which treats violence as a disease. We seek to diagnose and analyze the root causes of violence in Scotland, then develop and evaluate solutions which can be scaled-up across the country.”24

A number of other more specific approaches also warrant mention. The National Network of Hospital-Based Violence-Intervention Programs supports prevention work in hospitals and trauma centers (e.g., helping prevent cascades of retaliatory shootings). Summer jobs programs, such as the Boston Summer Youth Employment Program, have been shown to reduce crime among youth, with persistent effects long after the end of the program and declines particularly pronounced among youth of color.  Mentoring and positive supportive relationships with adults, such as that provided by My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (an initiative providing mentoring to high-risk boys of color), is correlated with reduced gun violence. Likewise, the school-based Becoming A Man program, which includes mentoring and cognitive behavior therapy, has been shown to produce large reductions in criminal arrests among participants26 (see Recommendation #42 [CRT #14]). More aggressive lead remediation/childhood intervention efforts can also be of substantial benefit for crime and public safety—childhood lead exposure is a well-established causal factor for violent crime in adults, and existing evidence indicates that childhood lead exposure may be a major driver of overall crime rates.

In Madison, multiple initiatives are underway. A holistic violence interruption approach, including peer support counseling, has been implemented by the Focused Interruption Coalition. Meanwhile, the Northside Madison Safe and Thriving Community plan has provided a further blueprint for a multi-sector public health approach to prevent and interrupt youth violence. Public Health Madison & Dane County has been working on violence prevention initiatives and in 2018 selected a violence
prevention coordinator. The Madison-area Out-of-School Time program has been set up to connect children and teens with high-quality programs and mentoring during their out-of-school time. And a 2016 report from Alders Maurice Cheeks and Matt Phair has advocated implementation of additional approaches.

There is an increasing consensus among Madison elected officials regarding the value and importance of such a public health/violence interruption approach. Madison could benefit from further funding and cultivating such programs, drawing on models with established success. Another of the Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendations is similar, advocating expansion of public health approaches, but is directed to MPD (Recommendation #41; OIR Report #28). The current recommendation takes a wider, holistic perspective and is directed to the Mayor and Common Council, since many public health programs that should be considered for implementation or expansion would be separate from the police department.

And from this: Informational Attachments: 15 Point Violence Interruption Plan Framework to Address Racial Disparities, Violence Prevention & Recidivsm | Memo “Youth Gun Violence Reduction Strategies” (5/17/16) – Updated 9/20/16

15 POINT PLAN

A FRAMEWORK PRESENTED BY LEADERS OF COLOR AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY TO ADDRESS RACIAL DISPARITIES, VIOLENCE PREVENTION, & RECIDIVISM IN THE CITY OF MADISON

About the Focused Interruption Coalition

The Focused Interruption Coalition (FIC) is a group of grassroots leaders, leaders of color, and members of the community that came together to address racial disparities and the increase in violence in the community. The Coalition is currently represented by the following organizations and will continue growing as our goal is to have a unified effort to address these issues:

  • Boys and Girls Club of Dane County JMC Business Solutions
  • Breaking Barriers and Mentoring, Inc. Mellowhood Foundation
  • Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development
  • MOSES (Madison Organizing in Strength, Equality and Solidarity) EXPO (Ex-Prisoners Organizing)
  • Voices Beyond Bars
  • Vision Beyond Bars
  • DSS Daycare and Community Center

The Issue

When the Race to Equity Report was published, we saw the “all too real” look at the racial disparities surrounding education, employment, and health in the City of Madison. Additionally, the City of Madison has been suffering an increase in gun violence and violence in general this year. When you look at the disparities that exist in this community – disparities in education and mass incarceration – Madison has a concrete chance of turning these issues around if we make it a priority and stop announcing isolated initiatives that give false hope with limited to no resources aligned to these announcements. Madison is better than this and our hope is that our city does not become numb to these kinds of incidents. This plan targets these issues and aims to grow cooperation with the City and the community in mitigating these issues. These proposed strategies might save someone’s life, including yours.

A Quick Snapshot of Dane County’s African American Population Numbers

The total population of Dane County, as reported in the 2010 Census, was just over 488,000. Of that total, African Americans numbered 31,300, or about 6.5%. The African American population, as calculated from the 2010 Census, is made up of 25,347 individuals identifying themselves as “black-only” and 5,953 as “black with another race.” The African American child population (under 18) in 2010 was 8,804 or almost 8.5% of county’s total child population. In that same year, African American students accounted for about 20% of the total enrollment in Madison’s public schools, and about 17% of all students enrolled in public schools countywide. African American adults (over 18) made up just over 5% of the county’s total number of adults.

Between 2000 and 2010, the county’s total African American population increased by almost 50%, from 20,241 to 31,300. Over the past 40 years, the number of African Americans living in the county grew almost ten-fold. In 2010, African Americans constituted the most populous community of color in the county, followed closely by even faster growing populations of Hispanics (28,925 in 2010) and Asians (26,698 in 2010). More than half of Dane County’s black population lives within the City of Madison, while the rest reside elsewhere in the county.

In 2011, for example, the official unemployment rate for blacks in Dane County was 25.2%, compared to 4.8% for whites. Dane County African Americans, in other words, were almost 5.5 times more likely to be jobless than their white neighbors. By contrast, in the same year, the national African American unemployment rate averaged only a little more than twice that of whites.

The black/white poverty rate gap in the county is even wider than our local employment disparities. In 2011, the Census’ American Community Survey reported that over 54% of African American Dane County residents lived below the federal poverty line, compared to 8.7% of whites, meaning Dane County blacks were over six times more likely to be poor than whites. Compare this with the fact that in the country as a whole African Americans were about 2.5 times as likely as whites to be in poverty.

Even starker and more consequential are the disparities evident in Dane County’s rates of child poverty. In 2011, the American Community Survey estimated that more than 74% of Dane County’s black children were poor, compared to 5.5% of white children. In other words, Dane County black kids were estimated to be over 13 times more likely to be growing up in poverty than white children. Our research suggests that this 13 to 1 disparity ratio may constitute one of the widest black/white child poverty gaps that the Census Surveys reported for any jurisdiction in the nation.

On a typical day in 2011, there were 124 black children in the county’s foster care system, compared to 58 white children. Calculated as a disparity ratio, this means that Dane County black children faced a 15 times greater risk of being separated from their families and living in residential or foster care than did white children.

Dane County’s juvenile justice numbers also show disparities that are wider than those found elsewhere in the state or nation. In 2010, the county’s black youth arrest rate was 469 per 1,000, compared to 77 per 1,000 for whites, yielding a disparity ratio of 6.1 to 1. To put this into context, black teens in Dane County in 2010 were six times more likely to be arrested than whites living here, while black youth in the rest of the state were just three times as likely to be arrested as whites, and nationally black youths were only a little more than twice as likely to be arrested than their white peers.

The racial disparities in juvenile justice sanctions and dispositions are large as well. In 2011, a Dane County African American youth was 15 times more likely to spend time in the county’s secure detention program than a white youth. Statistics from the same year suggest that Dane County black youths were 25 times more likely to be sent to the state’s secure facility at Lincoln Hills than whites. The striking result of these disparities is that African American adolescents, while constituting less than 9% of the county’s youth population, made up almost 80% of all the local kids sentenced to the state’s juvenile correctional facility in 2011.

Finally, and not surprisingly, these black-white disparities carry over from the juvenile justice to the adult systems. In 2012, African American adults were arrested in Dane County at a rate more than eight times that of whites. That compares to a black-white arrest disparity of about 4 to 1 for the rest of Wisconsin and 2.5 to 1 for the nation as a whole. The racial imbalances in Dane County’s 2012 incarceration numbers were remarkable as well. While black men made up only 4.8% of the county’s total adult male population, they accounted for more than 43% of all new adult prison placements during the year.

(Source: Race to Equity Report)

The Plan

Dozens of grassroots community leaders, faith leaders, and elected officials decided to combine proposed plans presented by Alders Maurice Cheeks, Matt Phair, and Boys & Girls Club CEO Michael Johnson to rally the City around a vision that would result in addressing gun violence and safety in the City of Madison. After two months of work, the collective group (Focused Interruption Coalition) has revised a 15-point framework that has been vetted by grassroots community leaders, activists in the criminal justice system, city officials, established nonprofit leaders, and members of the community affected by these issues. The plan calls for investment in key programs to prevent and address violence in 2017 and the creation of a violence prevention office, independent of the Madison Police Department (MPD), to oversee the funding distribution needs for carrying out the actions of the 15 Point Plan call the Madison Alternative Policing Strategy (MAPS).

  1. Recruit and Train Peer Support Coaches for Violence Prevention
  2. Recruit and Train Peer Support Coaches for Recidivism Reduction
  3. Madison Peace Project
  4. Awards and Protection for Witnesses
  5. Youth Employment
  6. Mentoring
  7. Create a Restoration Center
  8. Expansion of Community Center Hours
  9. Alternative Sentencing
  10. Mental Health Therapy
  11. Lobby for Policies that Address Social Determinants of Violence
  12. Remove Offenses on CCAP
  13. Court Advocacy
  14. Collaboration with MOST and the Madison Metropolitan School District
  15. Functional Family Therapy and Parent Management Training

TIMELINE

November 2016 (activities for implementation January 2017): The City Budget will provide funding for the following activities within the 15 Point Plan to immediately respond to the needs of the community:

  • Community based diversion and reentry activities through the issuance of Request for Proposals (RFP) ($480,000)
  • The Madison Peace Project ($50,000)
  • Awards and protection of witnesses of violence for 2017 ($20,000)
  • Providing funding to youth organizations in an effort to employ an additional 115 youth during the summer of 2017 ($200,000)
  • A shared staff member promoting peace, safety, and community engagement including: ensuring funding is available to community based diversion and reentry programs, lobbying for alternative sentencing, developing a comprehensive violence prevention strategy, identifying training and education opportunities for individuals at risk of entering or returning from the criminal justice system and generating funds for these goals which include applying for grants and building philanthropic relationships. This position will be the first step to the creation of the Executive Director of Community Engagement for MAPS. ($100,000)

Total: $850,000

January 2017: In addition to funding the efforts above, the City and County, in a collaborative effort, will have achieved the first steps toward the establishment of MAPS:

  • Establishing a community coalition to explore a Restoration Center
  • Establishing policies in the Community Development Division to make mentoring a priority a priority funding area
  • Expanding hours of traditional and non-traditional Community Centers and after school programs through MOST
  • Pilot programs for Functional Family Therapy and Parent Management Training

November 2017 (activities for implementation January 2018): The City, County, and School District Budget will provide funding for:

  •   A Court Advocate position to serve offenders ages 25 and under ($100,000)
  •   Additional funding for court advocacy programs that serve offenders ages 25 and under ($50,000)

Total = $150,000

January 2018: The City and County will develop an independent office called Madison Alternative Policing Strategy (MAPS). MAPS would become an independent civilian division working in conjunction with the Madison Police Department and led by a full-time executive director governed by an independent board of community representatives from each police district and grass root community groups. The Executive Director would have the civilian title of Executive Director of Community Engagement and would be charged with carrying out the violence prevention plan. The goal of the MAPS division will be to help the community work with the police and the philanthropic and business communities to develop violence prevention strategies in order for the City of Madison to remain one of the safest cities in the United States.

Total = $2,000,000

Total City investment toward violence prevention and community engagement over a three-year period = $3,000,000

It is not the sole responsibility of the City of Madison to take on these initiatives. This will be a collaborative effort with Dane County, the business community, and the philanthropic community. The dollar amounts listed above are solely the commitment needed by the City in order to ensure the efforts are continued.

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FIRST YEAR (2017)

We understand the process to establish MAPS can take some time; however, violence in this community needs to be addressed immediately. Therefore, we have conducted research, met with members of the community, met with leaders of the community, met with City officials, and we recommend that the following items be addressed immediately in order to ensure a safer community today.

In the first year we recommend that a shared staff member position be created. The shared staff member would have the civilian title of Executive Director of Community Engagement and would be charged with carrying out the violence prevention plan. Additionally, this position would be responsible for promoting peace and safety including: alternative sentencing, developing a comprehensive violence prevention strategy, identifying training and education opportunities for at-risk or returning individuals and generating funds for these goals, including applying for grants and building philanthropic relationships. ($100,000)

1) Peer Support Coaches for Violence Prevention and Hotline (RFP) ($240,000)

The City of Madison is in need of community based diversion as a strategy to prevent violence, and this can be accomplished through Peer Support. Evidence shows that support from peers who are in a position to offer support by virtue of relevant experience: he or she has “been there, done that”and can relate to others who are now in a similar situation is vital. Because of their livedexperience, such persons have expertise that professional training cannot replicate. We recommend that funding be provided for Peer Support Coaches (“PSCs”) immediately.

These PSCs will provide outreach and identify and engage hard-to-reach individuals. They will provide low-income persons between the ages of 18-35 with coping mechanisms, soft skills, and other resources necessary to meet the basic needs of individuals who are at-risk of becoming involved in criminal activity, involved in non-violent criminal behavior, or immediately after they are released from a signature bond for a non-violent criminal offense. The PSCs will assist these individuals with securing quality jobs, developing appreciation of family and its role in achieving successful living, understanding community and collective responsibility, problem solving and decision making skills, money management and financial stability, housing assistance, and other coaching that may be needed.

The team of PSCs could be hired by non-profit providers and will become a bridge between law enforcement officials and individuals who are considering a life of criminal activity or involved in non- violent criminal behavior. These coaches will assist individuals with applied behavior analysis and life skills training, peer support, employment, skilled trades, entrepreneurship, housing, education, financial literacy, and be a liaison for other resources within the community.

Additionally, a 24-hour crisis management hotline would be established and the PSCs will act as first responders to manage crisis situations and be a resource to community members to let them know that someone is available to them at all times. One of the goals would be to minimize law enforcement’s reaction of locking up individuals when a third party, the PSCs, could come in and ease or deescalate the interaction.

2. Peer Support Coaches for Recidivism Reduction (RFP) ($240,000)

The number of individuals returning to the community from prison, and the need for support for those individuals is anticipated to increase in 2016 and future years. In Dane County, African American adults were arrested in Dane County at a rate more than eight times that of whites. That compares to a black-white arrest disparity of about 4 to 1 for the rest of Wisconsin and 2.5 to 1 for the nation as a whole. The racial imbalances in Dane County’s 2012 incarceration numbers were remarkable as well. While black men made up only 4.8% of the county’s total adult male population, they accounted for more than 43% of all new adult prison placements during the year. These numbers do not mean that black men commit more crimes, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. However, they are arrested more for the crimes and are sentenced to prison more than their white counterparts. All of these men will be reentering the community. The same evidence shows that support from peers who have been in similar situations is vital to help those reentering the community. Therefore, PSCs are necessary for the reduction of recidivism.

In addition to the individuals reentering the community from the Wisconsin Prison System, in 2014 Congress passed the “Drugs Minus Two” law for federal inmates to address the inequities in sentencing of drug laws; specifically, the sentencing of offenders for possession and distribution of crack. Under this amendment, offenders charged with crack offenses received a two level reduction of their sentences (for some, this means more than two years reduced from their sentence). Eligible offenders started being released November 2015; however, many will start being released November 2016. It is estimated that there will be thousands reentering the community in the next couple of years. Therefore, more reentry support is necessary. Additionally, about 75% of inmates need substance abuse treatment, but only 17% are currently receiving it. Research shows that correctional substance abuse treatment reduces recidivism.

PSCs who have street credibility will serve as life skills coaches for the purpose of reducing recidivism. The team of PSCs could be hired by non-profit providers and will become a bridge between law enforcement officials and individuals emerging from the criminal justice system. These coaches will assist individuals with activities such as applied behavior analysis and life skills training, peer support, employment, entrepreneurship, housing, education, financial literacy, and be a liaison for other resources within the community such as skilled trades, anger management, and substance abuse. They can also help by being advocates during the reentry process.

3. Madison Peace Project ($50,000)

Based off of a similar project in Milwaukee, this proposed program would invite individuals between the ages of 8 and 18 to develop ideas that would reduce gun violence. City officials and officials of other community partners would review each proposal and the City would fund and implement the winning proposals. The project’s objectives are to raise awareness of youth gun violence, engage young people in the solutions-making process, and develop leadership skills among youth affected by gun violence in their community.

Evidence shows that when communities are asked what they need and are provided the resources to implement the solution, the results exceed the direct benefit of the program or infrastructure. The community and individuals benefit from increased civic engagement and cooperation. The young people afforded an opportunity to explore solutions and benefit from their proposals will build confidence, and increase commitment to improving the community. Additionally, if the young people receive highly visible accolades they will inspire friends and family to become more involved in similar efforts. In addition to raising awareness across the city of youth gun violence, the Peace Project will build a shared vision of a peaceful, safe, and healthy community and enable local officials and community partners to focus more resources on combating youth gun violence.

4)  Awards and Protection for Witnesses ($20,000)

The City of Madison will create a fund for the reporting of and information leading to the arrest and conviction of any offender(s) of a homicide or attempted homicide. The fund administrators will offer immediate assistance, protection, and support to any person and their family who is willing to cooperate with police to help bring intelligence that can solve violent crime(s) in our community.

5)  Youth Employment ($200,000)

It is recommended that a collaborative network of youth employment service providers be created to connect every low-income teenager in Dane County with employment every summer. Providing additional efforts to implement this increases independence and self-reliance for high school aged youth facing barriers to employment or higher education due to economic or racial inequities.

Additionally, we recommend that the City of Madison increase the number of paid youth interns with an additional 115 interns in 2017.

6)  Mentoring (Policy Changes)

Connecting youth with positive adult role models increases resiliency against violence. Therefore, we recommend that the City ask the Community Development Division to consider mentoring as one of its priority funding areas, and to partner with MOST to provide training and tools for youth programs with embedded mentoring.

Additionally, we recommend the City ask employers within the City of Madison to partner with the City in providing employees who will serve as mentors.

7)  Task Force to Establish Restoration Center (Policy Changes)

The Community and the City will establish a task force to explore the concept of a Restoration Center. The goal of a Restoration Center will be to establish a positive alternative for individuals who would otherwise be arrested or taken to the hospital because of behavior, intoxication, and/or mental health issues. This opportunity would divert mentally ill people from being booked into hospitals or jail and focus on treatment. Funding for the facility could be split between local governments, Medicaid, health insurers, private sponsors, and other grant and tax-credit funding sources.

8)  Expansion of Traditional and Non-Traditional Community Center Hours (Cost Estimates Needed)

The City will work with traditional and non-traditional community center operators to determine the costs needed to extend hours and will consult with the community about this idea.

ACTIVITIES IN YEAR 2 (2018) Madison Alternative Policing Strategy (MAPS)

In 2018, with the support of local organizations and the community, the City and County will develop an independent office called Madison Alternative Policing Strategy (MAPS). MAPS would become an independent civilian division working in conjunction with the Madison Police Department and led by a full- time executive director governed by an independent board of community representatives from each police district and grass root community groups. The goal of the MAPS division will be to help the community work with the police and the philanthropic and business communities to develop violence prevention strategies in order for the City of Madison to remain one of the safest cities in the United States.

MAPS, once established, may begin to take on responsibility for the above projects, on a case by case basis, as determined by the community and participants in those programs. MAPS will lead the following initiatives directly:

9) Alternative Sentencing

MAPS would work with the courts to lobby the criminal justice system in support of offering inmates charged with nonviolent offenses an opportunity to trade their sentences (or portions of their sentences) for a chance at completing a two-year college degree program at a technical school with the guarantee to transfer to a UW State school with 60 credits of a 3.0 GPA or an automatic paid internship upon completion of the two-year technical degree and offer a tax write off to businesses that support the program.

10) Mental Health Therapy

While gun ownership has been rising, mental health services across our region have been woefully underfunded. Therefore, MAPS will work with community partners and subcontractors to ensure high quality, culturally competent mental health services are widely accessible in an effort to decrease gun violence due to mental health issues.

11) Lobby for Policies that Address Social Determinants of Violence

Interpersonal violence is strongly associated with macro-level social factors such as unemployment, income inequality, rapid social change, and access to education. A comprehensive violence prevention strategy must be directed at the aforementioned factors to reduce the inequities which fuel interpersonal violence. Leaders of color in Madison is encouraging local elected officials to lobby state legislators and the Governor to introduce a bill to cover the cost of these programs by offering a sugar tax, tobacco tax, or some other referendum to cover the cost to make our communities safer. This has been done under republican law makers in Indiana and Missouri and we have fallen short on a funding plan to address all the studies that have occurred over the years.

12) Remove Offenses on CCAP

We recommend that all offenses that aren’t violent crimes for anyone 25 and under be removed. This is a major barrier for people trying to seek employment, especially for nonviolent offenses they committed at an early age like traffic violations and small misdemeanors.

13) Court Advocacy

MAPS would ensure low income individuals ages 25 and under who are in danger of entering into the criminal justice system have a Court Advocate to work with judges for alternative sentencing for nonviolent offenders that prove to have changed or have made committed efforts to changing their lives.

14) Collaboration with MOST and the Madison Metropolitan School District

MOST is currently a program funded by the City of Madison and Madison Metropolitan School District with more than 100 partner organizations. A strong working relationship with MOST partnership will be a critical element in preventing youth violence. Part of the collaboration will include supports for all community centers to stay open until 10:00 pm during the week and midnight on Saturdays with some programming on Sunday for at risk teens and young adults. MAPS will work with MOST to ensure the continuation of this program and that all community centers are included. MAPS will partner with community based groups and schools to offer universal school-based programs to reduce or prevent violent behavior in a given school and develop supportive strategies to reduce school suspensions across the board.

15) Pilot Programs of Functional Family Therapy and Parent Management Training

Strong families are essential for preventing and reducing youth violence. MAPS will work with community organizations to provide participants with the resources and skills necessary to develop an appreciation of family and an understanding of the role family structure has in achieving successful living. MAPS will work to accomplish this through two evidenced based programs – Functional Family Therapy and Parent Management Training programs – in an effort to teach young children (and their parents) effective conflict resolution skills. If children only see unhealthy conflict resolution in the home, at school, on social media, on the streets, and in the community…they will be more inclined to use violence to solve issues in their young lives.

Functional Family Therapy is a short-term (30 hours) family therapy intervention and juvenile diversion program helping at-risk children and delinquent youth to overcome adolescent behavior problems, conduct disorder, substance abuse, and delinquency. Therapists work with families to assess family behaviors that maintain delinquent behavior, modify dysfunctional family communication, train family members to negotiate effectively, set clear rules about privileges and responsibilities, and generalize changes to community contexts and relationships.

Parent Management Training is a program aimed to promote effective family management skills in order to reduce antisocial and problematic behavior in children from 3-16 years of age. The central role is to coach parents in the use of skill encouragement, setting limits or effective discipline, monitoring, problem solving, and positive involvement. In addition to the core parenting practices, the program incorporates the supporting parenting components of identifying and regulating emotions, enhancing communication, giving clear directions, and tracking behavior. Promoting school success is a factor that is woven into the program.

AND OF COURSE . . . .

There may be other solutions as well such as . . .

Defund the police.

Invest in communities.

No more social workers with a gun.  Police carry guns, respond to violent situations and arrest people.  Social workers do the social work.  Social workers call for back up in dangerous situations.

No more statements and press releases  . . . put your money where your mouth is.  Act.

 

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