Commission Acts to Fund Gun Violence Reduction Efforts

October 12, 2022

One of the City Commission's top priorities continues to be addressing the many factors contributing to gun violence in the local community. Today, the Mayor and Commissioners took action to fund a variety of programs that aim to reduce gun violence and support those most at-risk. This follows the Commission's previous action to allocate $1 million per year for the next five years toward this effort.

"I am confident the bold action taken by the City of Tallahassee to fund gun violence prevention efforts will produce results that save lives. I was proud to have brought the idea forth in March to set aside funding targeting this topic and to have made the motion today to keep momentum going, both times receiving full support from my colleagues on the dais," Mayor John Dailey said.

Following a detailed discussion at today's workshop, including presentations from national subject matter experts and local organizations, the Commission voted unanimously to allocate $200,000 toward developing a Group Violence Interruption (GVI) strategy, $200,000 toward restorative justice, $100,000 to Big Bend Crime Stoppers and $500,000 toward a new Community Human Service Partnership (CHSP) category targeting gun violence.

At its March 9 budget workshop meeting, the Commission voted to set aside $1 million each year for five years to address gun violence. At subsequent budget workshops, the City Commission reaffirmed its support for this initiative and directed staff to explore successful evidence-based intervention models on gun violence disruption. At the September 21 Commission meeting, staff presented research on gun violence intervention efforts across the country, national data on the underlying causes of gun violence, historical background on gun violence intervention efforts by the City and information pertaining to other local efforts to address gun violence and its root causes. At the same meeting, the City Commission voted to hold the workshop that occurred today focused on the GVI strategy, the role non-profit providers in the community could have in preventing gun violence and public input.

The GVI strategy is based on the focused deterrence model. It is designed to reduce street-group-involved gun violence and homicide through a partnership of law enforcement, community members and social service providers that directly engages the small and active number of people involved in violent street groups. Together, GVI partners deliver an anti-violence message to the street group members and emphasize that there will be group consequences if violence continues. The GVI approach aims to reduce the group violence and shift peer dynamics by creating collective accountability, creating internal social pressure that deters violence, establishing clear community norms against violence, offering group members an honorable exit from committing violence and providing a supported path for those willing to change their way of life.

The City actively works with local partners on restorative justice programming, and this funding will help further those efforts. Restorative justice is a component of the criminal justice system that focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.

Since 1984, the purpose of Big Bend Crime Stoppers has been to increase the safety of the Big Bend community through tips from residents that assist law enforcement agencies in solving crimes. This approach stimulates community involvement, leverages media opportunities to publicize unsolved crimes and offers cash rewards for information leading to an arrest and/or conviction. Calls to Crime Stoppers have resulted in thousands of arrests and the recovery of substantial amounts of property.

The CHSP process provides an efficient and effective method for allocating human services grant funds. Through a biennial process, agencies providing direct human services to City of Tallahassee and Leon County residents may apply for funding. This allocation will fund a new category for CHSP. Current FY23 funding for the existing categories totals $3.3 million. To ensure funds are available quickly for local groups working to deter gun violence, CHSP will launch this new opportunity as soon as possible outside of the standard two-year cycle.

For more information about the City's public safety efforts, visit Talgov.com. Through the site, you can also sign up to receive City news via email, including Commission agendas.