A RECOVERY FOR ALL OF US: MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES SAFE SUMMER NYC TO COMBAT GUN VIOLENCE

 

 Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced Safe Summer NYC, a comprehensive plan to end gun violence and bring New York City back from the COVID-19 crisis.  Safe Summer NYC will deter gun violence with real consequences for picking up a firearm and create disincentives to turning to a life of crime by providing real, positive alternatives for young people. With a focus on the Community, Cops, and Courts & Justice System, the plan has three distinct components: increased investment in communities, strategic police presence in targeted areas, and greater coordination across the justice system.

 

"A recovery for all of us means every New Yorker is safe and feels safe in their neighborhood,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "Safe Summer NYC is the comprehensive roadmap to end gun violence and bring our city back stronger than ever.”

 

COMMUNITY: Investing in Neighborhoods

 

• Double Cure Violence workforce across 31 sites

 

• Double Summer Youth Anti-Violence employment slots from 800 to 2000, both during the summer and throughout the year 

 

• Launch Operation Safe Parks and Gang-Free Zones—a partnership between the NYPD and community stakeholders—to provide safe, protected places for people to congregate free from violence and with peace-of-mind

 

• Host Saturday Night Light games at 100 sites citywide

 

• Completely refurbish 15 basketball courts at NYCHA developments by August, as well as four basketball courts and a new soccer pitch at Colonel Charles Young Park in Harlem by July

 

• Increase Tip Rewards up to $5,000 Drive Community Engagement  

 

• Hold anti-violence fairs in 30 neighborhoods across the city

 

COPS: Strategic, Precise Deployments to Targeted Areas 

 

• Precise police presence to prevent gun violence by targeting gangs and crews with a focus on the 100 blocks with the highest rates of gun violence

 

• Enhance patrol strength ahead of summer by shifting approximately 200 officers from administrative assignments to key areas 

 

• Strengthen federal partnerships embedded with NYPD to perform rapid tracing of firearms used in crimes and prevent the proliferation of illegal guns on city streets

 

• Expand the Community Solutions Program, a strategy that uses community-based organizations, City services, and NYPD response to connect community members to resources and improve their neighborhoods

 

• Expand ShotSpotter by 8.78 square miles

 

• Re-Launch Ceasefire, a program that uses credible messengers to deliver strong message to high-risk populations with goal of decreasing violence without increasing arrests and incarceration 

 

•  Launch a Gun Buyback Advertising Campaign 

 

COURTS: Coordinate Across the Justice System 

 

• Work with the Courts to implement its comprehensive plan to expand in-person operations

 

• Launch a collaboration between DAs, NYPD and MOCJ to mobilize resources focused on the most serious gun cases

 

• Unveil the NYC Joint Force to End Gun Violence—composed of members of NYPD, Cure Violence providers, District Attorney offices, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, City agencies, local community groups and law enforcement organizations—to bring an individualized, sustained focus on likely shooters. The Joint Force will launch in Queens and soon expand citywide

 

• Create enhanced services and supervision for pretrial defendants for gun possession cases, which must be matched by State action to support more people on parole across the city

 

“Our plan involves precision policing, the application of technology, partnerships with other City agencies, and a focus on youth. But the core of it is in the neighborhood policing philosophy: cops and community working together to curb violence,” said Chief Rodney Harrison.

 

 “My strategy as District Attorney has always been to focus our resources on the drivers of crime, which are the small number of individuals who are responsible for the shootings and killings on our streets. Those are exactly the cases that will be prioritized to go to trial under this initiative – people who we believe have demonstrated a willingness to harm others, and who continue to pose an active risk to public safety. I commend Mayor de Blasio for adopting a comprehensive strategy to addressing the violence. His initiative, coupled with my Office’s multi-faceted approach, which relies on going after the shooters, cutting off the supply by targeting firearm traffickers and working with Cure Violence groups, hosting gun buybacks and participating in other programs that get our communities involved, will help us stamp out the recent rise in shootings and return to the historic levels of public safety we enjoyed before the past year,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.