Columbus plans to roll out Group Violence Intervention program this summer
Columbus plans to roll out a new initiative this summer that seeks to stop crime before it starts by offering those in violent groups a way out, city officials said Tuesday at a public hearing held by city council's Public Safety Committee.
In the coming months, the city says it plans to begin its Group Violence Intervention (GVI) initiative, designed to reduce "street group-involved violence" by collaborating with community organizations and members to focus on individuals that are associated with a majority of the violent crime in the city, Public Safety Deputy Director George Speaks said.
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The street groups could include organized gangs with a hierarchy, to loosely organized street posses or crews.
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A 2021 report from the National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC), contracted by the city, found that 17 gangs or groups composed of an estimated 480 total members — roughly .05% of the Columbus’ population — were confirmed or suspected to be involved in 46% of homicides in 2020, either as victims, perpetrators or both.
In October, Mayor Andrew Ginther and other city leaders announced they would be pursuing a GVI plan in Columbus. In 1990, Boston was the first city to implement a GVI program, and other cities like Oakland, Chicago, Detroit, and New Orleans have also implemented GVI initiatives, according to the NNSC website.
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Through the initiative, individuals identified through "precision policing" to be in groups where they are at risk of committing — or falling victim to — violent crime are encouraged to give up their lifestyle in exchange for receiving resources like jobs, training or education that may help them improve their lives and the community.
If they refuse, Speaks said, those individuals can expect the full attention of police and enforcement of laws.
The program also calls for community members to be a moral and faith-based voice that encourages people to turn away from violence.
"So the aim of our GVI strategy is to reduce violence by offering group members an honorable exit from committing acts of violence and to provide a supportive path from those who want to change," Speaks said.
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The plan focuses on performing "custom notifications," where interventionists in conjunction with Columbus police will come to the door of someone suspected to be involved in a dangerous group to directly inform them that there is a way out of violent crime.
Training programs for additional participants are being conducted over the next several weeks, Speaks said.
"All of this work is culminating in June ... or later this summer, as we carry out what was done with respect to getting our custom notifications," Speaks said.
Several other existing programs will be wrapped into the collaborative effort, he added.
Representatives from the Departments of Health and Parks and Recreation shared their plans to continue intervention programs that are independent of the GVI, which include the ReRoute program, which seeks to help young people involved in lower-level criminal activity to work with Columbus police, and VOICE, which connects social workers with people who have been treated at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center for gunshot wounds, stab wounds or assault injuries.
Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said he was glad to see collaboration was being pursued by the city.
"One of the things I've always wanted out of our strategy was coordination, collaboration," Hardin said. I think the community should be comfortable in the amount of work that's being done in this space, and I mean that."
Although the meeting was open to the public and is being held in a city which has had two record years of homicide in a row, only two residents offered remarks during the meeting.
Mary Counter, representing the interfaith social justice group BREAD (Building Responsibility, Equality And Dignity), said she can see steps in the right direction. BREAD was a major advocate for the city's decision to hire the National Network for Safe Communities to conduct its study.
"BREAD wants the city to execute the GVI strategy with fidelity, and I can see some steps going in that direction," Counter said.
However, Counter added that she felt some of the implementation was happening at a "snail's pace."
Cole Behrens is a reporter at The Columbus Dispatch covering public safety and breaking news. You can reach him at CBehrens@dispatch.com or find him on Twitter at @Colebehr_report