Comprehensive Neighborhood Safety Strategy
Neighborhood Safety Strategies Fund
New and expanded neighborhood safety strategies will be funded in part through a new $ million Neighborhood Safety Strategies Fund. This $2 million fund will allow our division of police to effectively implement these programs while maintaining the patrols we need in Columbus.
Safe Streets
Building off the successful 2017 Linden Safe Streets initiative, Safe Streets will be expanded in 2018 to include
foot patrols, a pilot program proposed by the Fraternal Order of Police and the NAACP. The Columbus Division of Police foot patrol program will be placed in an Opportunity Neighborhood and will be based on recommendations independently evaluated by the National Institute of Justice.
Safe Neighborhoods
To break the cycle of violent crime in Columbus neighborhoods, the city has launched Safe Neighborhoods, a focused deterrence program in partnership with Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.
The City of Columbus is also partnering with the Franklin County Juvenile Court to expand our Recreation and Parks Department’s Job Readiness Program, investing more than $200,000 to provide young adults with a real alternative to re-offending. This funding is in addition to $600,000 for other youth job programs in the Recreation and Parks Department.
Crisis Intervention Training
To better respond to people in crisis, the City of Columbus will have 50 percent of all frontline, community-facing police officers receive Crisis Intervention Training by the end of 2020. Currently, every new recruit receives this training.
Community, Action, Resilience and Empowerment (CARE)
To further our trauma-informed responses to violent crime, Mayor Ginther’s proposed 2018 budget funds a program manager and four caseworkers for the CARE Coalition in Columbus Public Health. The coalition provides services that directly address the trauma that families and neighbors experience because of violent crime, empowering them to recover in their neighborhoods.
Neighborhood Crisis Response
$1.8 million will be invested in a new cross-departmental Neighborhood Crisis Response led by Carla Williams-Scott, Director of the Department of Neighborhoods, to strengthen neighborhoods by coordinating the resources of our city to create physical deterrents to crime. Solutions may range from installing streetlights in alleys and cracking down on nuisance code issues to housing stabilization and after-school programming.
Violent Crime Review Group
Led by the city’s next Public Health Commissioner, Dr. Mysheika Roberts, this multi-departmental review of and response to violent crimes is tasked with addressing the city’s unacceptable homicide rate, similar to other multi-departmental reviews of infant deaths and fatal opioid overdoses.
Neighborhood Safety Committees
These committees will be established, led by local Community Liaison Officers and made up of block watch volunteers and community leaders to review information from the Violent Crimes Review Group and give real-time feedback on our neighborhood intervention strategies. These committees will enhance, not replace, the valuable work already being done by community groups throughout Columbus.
Columbus Community Safety Advisory Commission
This 17-member commission is tasked with ensuring that Columbus has the best training, policies and procedures to protect and serve the entire community. The Commission has been asked to recommend an objective, independent consultant to support their work.
Click here for more information about the Commission.