York, PA started working with the National Network in 2016 to implement its Group Violence Intervention. The strategy is in its infancy in York and city partners are working diligently to build a strong foundation and establish partnerships to drive the approach forward.
Two years ago, York City officials responded to persistent street violence with a multi-pronged initiative modeled after a nationally renowned criminologist's work in Boston decades ago.
The premise of Group Violence Intervention is relatively simple: A small number of people in any city commit most violent crimes, so police need to identify and target that group of people, who are often involved in gangs, the drug trade or both.
Helfrich said York City residents need to understand that GVI isn't a short-term program. It's how the city will be doing business from now on. "We will be wherever the violence is," Helfrich said. "We will be there with all the services we can provide — and all the enforcement we can provide. Our mission hasn't changed."
York City had less than half the shootings in 2017 than it had the year before, according to city officials, who credit the national Group Violence Intervention initiative with reducing those numbers.
The GVI initiative, which began in York City in February after more than a half-year of planning, led to city officers, other law enforcement and GVI community partners making more than 500 contacts with city residents, according to Leitzel.
About 50 or so of those contacts ended with someone being arrested, the lieutenant said, but the vast majority of contacts were positive.
York City is off to a good start with its new Group Violence Intervention initiative. So says the national advisor for the organization that created the program on which it’s based, who notes the local stakeholders have “gone beyond lip service.”
"There are a couple pieces (to the initiative) that cities can get right — right out of the gate — that are really important," said Louisa Aviles, associate director of the National Network for Safe Communities' group-violence portfolio. "Some cities nail them, and other cities take longer to get them in place."
On Tuesday, February 22, York, CeaseFire York held its first call-in meeting.
