MAYOR DE BLASIO EXPANDS CRISIS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND INVESTS IN COMMUNITY-BASED SOLUTIONS TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE

Crisis Management System will now cover 20 precincts with highest rates of gun violence

  

Mayor Bill de Blasio  announced that the City will expand the successful anti-violence Crisis Management System (CMS) community safety program to sites in Soundview, Jamaica, Crown Heights, Flatbush and Canarsie. With this expansion, the program will now cover the 20 precincts with the highest rates of gun violence citywide. The Administration will also invest $10 million to open new sites and add program staff, building on the Administration’s commitment to reducing gun violence and strengthening neighborhood safety.

 

“The most effective solutions come from the grassroots and create change beyond the power of government,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Cure Violence has empowered leaders from across our city to take control of their neighborhoods and rethink what it means to keep each other safe. What we are doing today will save lives and guarantee a safer and fairer New York for generations to come.”

With today’s announcement, CMS will expand to five additional precincts: the 43^rd Precinct in Soundview, the Bronx; 103^rd Precinct in Jamaica, Queens; 71^st Precinct in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; 69^th Precinct in Canarsie, Brooklyn; and the 70^th Precinct in Flatbush Brooklyn.

An initiative of the City’s Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS), the Crisis Management System launched in 2017 through the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice as a network of providers that use the nationally recognized Cure Violence model, a neighborhood-based, public-health approach to violence reduction. CMS deploys teams of credible messengers—community members whose backgrounds allow them to connect with and motivate those at-risk—to 26 sites, where they mediate conflicts on the street and connect high-risk individuals to services These services include a year-round employment program, mental health services, and trauma counselling.

Researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice have found shooting victimizations fell by 28% across all CMS sites over the first 24 months following a site launch, compared to the 24 months prior to the launch. Gun injuries fell 33%. Additionally, researchers found CMS also increased trust in police and decreased residents’ reliance on violence to settle disputes.

"This City's investment in the Crisis Management System and other solutions to public safety centered on community marks a vital turning point," said Elizabeth Glazer, Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ). "Instead of turning first to the criminal justice system to define what safety looks like, New York City is drawing upon the strength of neighborhoods and residents themselves to drive changes for their communities to thrive."

“Public safety starts in and is sustained by the community,” said Eric Cumberbatch, Deputy Director of the Office of Neighborhood Safety. “The Crisis Management System and other vital initiatives like the Mayor's Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety tap into the grassroots, community-based networks that are led by the people who know their neighborhoods best—our residents."