A new study confirms sustainable ways for violence prevention to succeed against one of the most intransigent challenges for urban violence. Prairie cities in Canada have failed for many decades to prevent violence affecting urban Aboriginal peoples. Politicians and judges seemed to only be able to react with prison time and punishment.
Instead of debating yet again who should be incarcerated for how long, the comprehensive study bravely starts with the innovative goal of stopping violence before it leads to victimization and criminal justice costs. It examined both the social science knowledge on what reduces crime affecting urban Aboriginal people as well as a growing body of knowledge about how ¨risk focused¨ prevention gets implemented and sustained. It tested this knowledge with stakeholders in one of the cities.
The stakeholders (and the knowledge) are optimistic about the potential for ¨risk focused¨ strategies to reduce crime and prevent victimization in this difficult inner city population. However, the stakeholders and the study identified ¨missing pieces¨. For instance, success requires cities to support a leadership (responsibility) centre to sustain partnerships between schools, housing, policing and others. Funding must go to smart policing and effective prevention – not one or the other.
It is not just this study. A plethora of government agencies provide living proof that “violence is preventable, not inevitable.” U.S. Department of Justice and the World Health Organization have scoured the world to provide even more. Public Safety Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada have selected best practices and made them publicly accessible. But despite their success, these practices have yet to be shared and implemented from coast to coast. As a result, cities like Edmonton and Winnipeg still ended 2011 with record numbers of homicide victims.
With more and more evidence showing it is possible to do so, it is time we stop the violence before too many more disadvantaged citizens get hurt. Fortunately, a growing number of “super cops” agree with acting on prevention, albeit with an emphasis on balancing tough-on-criminal and tough-on-cause approaches.
Los Angeles Chief of Police Bill Bratton stresses prevention, saying, “You cannot arrest your way out of [street violence].” Credited with reducing homicides in New York City in the 1990s through tough policing, Bratton knows what he is talking about.
Similarly, the chief of detectives for Glasgow, one of the U.K.’s most violent cities, got fed up investigating homicides. Looking for another option, he took knowledge from around the world and applied it locally, targeting gang violence. He brought in public-health experts and oversaw the installation of programs to limit alcohol abuse, stop youth from carrying weapons, promote mentoring, improve bad parenting, and more. Five years later, these efforts have reduced rates of violent offending by 50 per cent among those engaging with the initiative.
Dale McFee, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, is wasting no time to adapt these lessons to Canada, where they are very much needed.
