Birmingham Violence Reduction Initiative

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The Birmingham Violence Reduction Initiative (BVRI) was a multi-faceted anti-violence program carried out in Birmingham from November 15, 2014 through November 14, 2016. It was premised on direct interaction with individuals and families deemed to be at "high risk" of being affected by violence by focusing the deterrent effect of law enforcement, and also offering a range of supports to reduce conditions that contribute to violence.

Local officials such as Mayor William Bell, Birmingham Police chief A. C. Roper, U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls and Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities (TASC) were already interested in the program when incoming Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham direct Chris Nanni began connecting them to potential sources of funding, including a group of "catalyst donors" interested in supporting such efforts. The Community Foundation partnered with the Alabama Power Foundation to underwrite the first two years, with the idea that the city would budget for the program thereafter if it was successful.

The BVRI program was patterned after a "Group Violence Intervention" strategy based on academic research done at Harvard University under criminologist David Kennedy and promulgated through his National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC). Kennedy's research showed that a large share of violent crimes were committed by and against a relatively small segment of the population, which was also fairly closely-knit into harmful associations or "active groups". By the time it was adopted in Birmingham, the program had already demonstrated some success in Boston, Massachusetts (as "Operation Ceasefire") and in other cities. Local stakeholders attended a "Ceasefire University" training session led by Kennedy at John Jay College in New York on October 14-15, 2014.

Birmingham's BVRI committee was made up of Bell's chief of staff Chuck Faush, Birmingham City Council member Steven Hoyt, police chief Roper, deputy chief Henry Irby, U.S. Attorney Vance, District Attorney Falls, Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles regional director Denise Skelton, UAB TASC director Foster Cook, Alabama Power Foundation director John Hudson, and Nanni. Birmingham Police Captain Scott Praytor was assigned as dedicated day-to-day manager of BVRI operations. Psychologist and former Miles College assistant professor of criminal justice Jarralynne Agee was hired as the program's director and head of the Birmingham Office of Violence Reduction on March 9, 2016. They participated in weekly phone calls with Nanni and with Sue-Lin Wong and Meaghan McDonald of the NNSC. BGrace Media provided public relations services for the program. attempting to amplify what the designers dubbed, the "community moral voice."

The NNSC's technical assistance team then made a two-day visit to Birmingham on January 20-21, 2015 to analyze local "criminal violence dynamics". Their report from that analysis identified 28 active groups, members of which were involved, as victims or as suspects, in 64 of 174 homicides over a 3-year period. The group was unable to make an analysis of non-fatal shootings due to a lack of information about victims and suspects. These analyses were updated during visits by NNSC staff on September 10, 2015 and March 15, 2016. On June 3, 2016 two representatives from Birmingham attended a 1-day training session led by Andrew Papachristos at John Jay College on the use of "Network Analysis and Visualization for Crime Prevention" (NAVCAP) software tools.

William Bell formally announced the project in a speech at 6th Avenue Baptist Church on July 15, 2015.

To implement the program, law enforcement brought members associated with those active groups into staged "call-in" meetings with an array of local and federal officers to send a strong, coordinated message about the dire consequences of murder, not just on one victim or suspect, but on all of their associations. The desired result was for those groups to begin policing themselves to avoid attracting the extra attention. Over two years, the BVRI conducted five call-ins, on June 2, 2015; September 9, 2015; December 2, 2015; April 27, 2016; and October 4, 2016.

In addition to "the stick", the program offered individuals a "carrot," pairing them with a case worker who could work with them to break out of the circumstances that lead them to commit crimes. This could include direct assistance with financial and food security, transportation assistance, and access to healthcare, including mental health and counseling. Agee's work focused on the supportive elements of the program in coordination with community partners, including the Dannon Project.

By comparison, the law enforcement portion of the program received the bulk of the funding, as well as some pointed criticisms. A large-scale police operation was conducted at two addresses associated with the "Magic City Mafia" street gang in Central Pratt on January 24, 2017. The show of force, which included an armored vehicle, was criticized by neighborhood president and Black Lives Matter activist Eric Hall as unnecessarily "terrorizing" the community.

At the conclusion of the two-year pilot implementation, a review of the successes and challenges of the Birmingham Violence Reduction Initiative was conducted by the National Network for Safe Communities. Among the challenges identified were a shortage of resources for "intelligence gathering" about groups, and "irregular meetings and inconsistent participation by agency partners." The assessment recommended stronger local management and engagement with community partners.

During the implementation of the Birmingham Violence Reduction Initiative numerous exchanges with other cities were facilitated by the NNSC, including visits to Birmingham by teams from Detroit, Michigan; Kansas City, Missouri; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; New York City and London, England. Birmingham representatives also traveled to High Point, North Carolina; New Haven, Connecticut; Chattanooga; and New York.

By the time the two years of initial funding ran out, Bell has been succeeded as Mayor by Randall Woodfin, who instituted a new slate of violence reduction initiatives under the Birmingham Office of Peace & Policy and the banner of Common Ground. Woodfin aimed to place more of a focus on structural causes of crime such as poverty and opportunity, but was also open to increasing funds for police.

References

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