06-14-2013 Anti-Violence Commission To Meet June 18

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND PETE Bu nGtEG, MAYOR Office of the Mayor CONTACT: Kara Kelly, (574) 235 -5853 kkelly@southbendin.gov FOR RELEASE: Friday, June 14, 2013 ANTI - VIOLENCE COMMISSION TO MEET JUNE 18 South Bend's Anti- Violence Commission will meet for the second time on Tuesday, June 18 from 10 am to noon at the Kroc Center, 900 W. Western Ave. The featured speaker is Chris Mallette of The City University of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He will speak about the benefits of ongoing communication between city agencies, followed by a question and answer session. The meeting is free and open to the public. The Anti - Violence Commission, co- chaired by Police Chief Ron Teachman and Rev. Eddie Miller, includes 30 community leaders in law enforcement, government, education, civil service, health care, and faith -based agencies. The Commission is a long -term endeavor intended to reach and implement interventions that prevent violence. The approach calls for local, state and federal law enforcement and prosecutors to aggressively target people who commit gun crimes. It also draws on social services, education, and religious organizations to offer at -risk youth a path away from violence. "Now that the group has convened and built relationships, it's time to deepen our knowledge of the approaches we will use. The key is to reach those who are likeliest to cause the violence and intervene," says Mayor Pete Buttigieg. "Our focus is intense and the goal remains very specific: Reducing gun violence." The Commission's plan is based on the "Group Violence Reduction" strategy which dramatically reduced gun violence in Boston in the late 1990s and has been implemented in cities such as Cincinnati and Indianapolis. Researcher David M. Kennedy, who developed the model, wrote about his fight against gun crimes in the memoir "Don't Shoot."