Three Things To Read This Week
1. Cities Turning To Clean Teams To Clear Needles And Other Safety Hazards From Streets, Parks.
Boston’s Red Jacket Team Walks The Beat And Sweeps Up Needles And Connects People To Addiction Treatment. For the Boston Herald, Joe Dwinell reports on Boston’s “Red Jackets,” a team of more than a dozen health experts who “work from 5 a.m. to midnight seven days a week to clean up and address all that comes with” the opioid overdose crisis, from reducing “risk of needle pricks … for businesses and homeowners” who live in the area and connecting people with substance use disorder to treatment.
For CBS News, Paul Burton reports that the city’s clean team who “stop at nothing to make sure neighborhoods are clear of needles,” pick up “1,000 used needles a day from Boston streets.” Boston City Councilor John FitzGerald, a champion of the clean team program, explained to the news station that “the city needs to take a more forceful approach when it comes to making all of Boston's communities safer… ‘What we're asking for is a baseline … where someone shouldn't have to worry about going to the park and stepping on a needle.’”
In Burlington, Vermont, The “Clean Up Crew [Collects] Trash And Littered Syringes.” For the Burlington Free Press, Sydney P. Hakes reports on the city’s new clean team, called “BTV Clean Up Crew,” which “has been collecting trash and littered syringes in Burlington” since earlier this summer and the effort is already showing results, with local leaders reporting “a decrease in the number of syringes found during clean-ups.” The team, “donning rubber gloves and lugging garbage bags … [and plastic jugs for needles],” patrol the streets—from “alleys and sidewalks…[to] parking lots, driveways, backyards of empty houses”—collecting “food wrappers, unidentifiable bits of plastic, torn rags and an abundance of cigarette butts… [as well as] syringes and other sharps.” Patrols often fill their garbage bags “so quickly that they have to be emptied into trash bins” downtown. The team will also leave “Narcan, bandages and sanitary wipes” in various parts of the city to help fight overdoses and the spread of disease, until people with substance use disorder can get into treatment.
Springfield, Massachusetts “Expands Its Park Clean-Up Efforts To Address The Growing Issue Of Drug Paraphernalia Found In Local Parks.” For WWLP, Areta Odiah reports on a new team that “aims to remove dangerous items such as needles” in parks and playgrounds around the city to make sure that “children and families have a safe place to come play.” The city is also expanding the team through the creation of a new clean team coordinator to direct the team, MassLive reported. The new leader will “oversee policies and procedures to address discarded drug paraphernalia and coordinate the effort to ensure trained people collect needles… [as well as direct the] outreach team which works to help those who are homeless and addicted.” Thomas Ashe, director of parks, buildings and recreation management, explained to the newspaper that the clean-up crews are part of a jobs program for people incarcerated for low-level offenses to help them give back to the community, “along with making parks cleaner, the program helps the inmates develop better work skills… [and] the city has even hired some after they are released.”
In Lacey City, Washington, The Rapid Response Team Tackles Needles, Graffiti—And Overdoses. For The Olympian, Rolf Boone reports on the Rapid Response Team, which just celebrated its first anniversary and is already improving safety and order around the city. The team collected “341 hypodermic needles and removed more than 12 tons of debris from public spaces… recovered 333 shopping carts and returned that many to area stores… 46 sites tagged with graffiti that were cleaned up.” Two members of the team were honored with special recognition for “reviving a man suspected of overdosing on drugs” in August.
Jamie Oakland, who oversees parks in the city, explained to the newspaper how important this team is to the city: “This community would look so different if this team did not exist, just the amount of graffiti that they mitigate on a monthly basis makes a tremendous difference in how our citizens perceive this community.”
2. Safety Ambassadors “Tackle Crime, Disorder” In Downtowns Across The Country.
“Cincinnati’s Downtown Ambassadors Add Visible Layer Of Safety Amid Rising Crime Concerns.” For Spectrum News 1, Javari Burnett reports on city leaders “leaning on more than just police patrols to maintain a sense of security” downtown, with an expansion of the city’s successful safety ambassador team “which patrols the streets daily to help boost public safety” and “create a cleaner, safer, and more welcoming environment for residents, workers and visitors.”
The team of 85 full-time ambassadors, bolstered this summer with an expansion of 120 additional part-time ambassadors, receives “extensive training” and is outfitted in highly visible “bright green shirts” serving as eyes on the street through “public engagement, outreach, and late-night safety coverage” including regular check-ins with downtown businesses. One local jewelry store owner explained to the news station that the ambassador team “makes a visible and valuable difference…‘These guys have walkie talkies and they are literally here within three to five minutes after a phone call. They really help just give a presence to that ‘We care about downtown Cincinnati and keeping this place safe.’”
“Tulsa Businesses Say Safety Has Improved Downtown” With Help From Ambassador Team. For Fox News in Tulsa, Jade Morrow reports on the new safety ambassador team that “isn’t just working to reduce crime, but also remove graffiti, power wash sidewalks, water plants, empty trashcans, check in with local businesses [and] decreasing the rate of homelessness downtown and across the city.” The safety ambassador team is part of a new investment in downtown Tulsa and small businesses in the region told the news channel they are seeing the results from the effort.
Claudia Ramos, an owner of a taco restaurant downtown, said that the ambassador team “always come by to check and see if we need anything, to see if we’re good… we’re thankful for this initiative and we hope that it keeps coming.” Joe Bear, a staff member at a hot dog stand in the area, said that “you can see and feel the effect of DTP’s work… ‘they have a lot more people checking in all of the businesses downtown now and it's improving the business here…’”
Seattle’s Safety Ambassadors “Tackle Crime, Disorder In Chinatown-International District.” For KOMO News, Joel Moreno reports on the safety ambassador team that launched this summer, and has added “a new layer of public safety” and serve as “boots on the ground … the eyes and ears of the neighborhood… responding to any issues that residents, visitors, businesses have.” The team patrols on foot through the downtown district and responds to calls for service “from residents and businesses in the area” and focuses on anything from “public safety to maintenance.” Tuyen Than, who oversees the Chinatown district, explained to the news station that the team helps to save law enforcement resources and can work to resolve crises rapidly because “they are already in the neighborhood, so they can respond to issues faster than a police officer."
3. Study Outlines The Core Community Violence Intervention Models Every City Should Know When Launching A CVI Program. Researchers from Rutgers University’s Gun Violence Research Center and the University of Washington, published a new paper in INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, that helps bring clarity to the growing field of Community Violence Intervention programs. The authors reviewed 101 organizations and reports to map how the various community violence intervention programs take shape in cities across the country and found nine core styles of programs that can be deployed to help reduce gun violence:
Violence Interruption / Street Outreach: Includes “the use of credible messengers from local communities to engage with individuals at the highest risk of violence perpetration and/or victimization through preventative techniques geared toward community norm change… mediation strategies, and connections to social services.”
Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs: Provides “resources for people who have been violently injured. HVIPs aim to reduce the potential for retaliation and connect survivors (and sometimes their families) to resources.”
Group Violence Interventions: Targets “affiliates of certain groups known or presumed to be affiliated with violence and using small group meetings and/or individualized custom notifications…”
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design: “Focused on modifying environments to deter crime… by creating green spaces, rehabilitating vacant lots, or installing lighting.”
Cognitive Behavioral Interventions: Provide “tailored cognitive or dialectical behavioral therapy interventions that encourage participants to shift framing, specifically around managing emotions, responding to conflict, and coping with prior traumas.”
Survivor Resources: Provides “resources and support to people who have experienced a direct or indirect injury or exposure to firearm violence, including families and friends of homicide victims… often focuses on grieving and healing.”
Mentoring Programs: Provides “intensive mentoring and peer fellowship programs that institute a mentor-mentee relationship… offering participants opportunities to identify and focus on specific goals to increase self-efficacy and confidence."
School-Based Interventions: “Programs that occur at schools and/or are related to school activities… aimed to provide a sense of safety and community for youth at school and via school-related activities.”
Diversion Programs: This “encompasses a wide range of firearm diversion programs and stationhouse adjustments… which aim to avoid formally charging youth and young adults with a crime and reroute individuals toward positive alternatives.”
Related: For Oaklandside, Roselyn Romero reports that the City of Oakland is launching a training academy to staff community violence intervention programs. “Oakland has a police academy and a fire academy, intensive training programs where cadets are given skills they’ll need to work as police officers and firefighters. In two years, it will also have a community violence intervention academy,” Romero reports. The city of Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention is creating “a training program for violence interrupters, unarmed civilians who de-escalate situations and prevent retaliation after shootings and other forms of violence. The first training cohort will launch in 2027.”
