Northern Minneapolis community leaders launch pilot program to help defuse crime
âI am very proud to announce the Community Pilot Safety Program today,â said John Jamison, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Northside Residents Redevelopment Council (NRRC).
The program is a combination of a neighborhood watch group and a few dozen community links and activists who come together in hopes of making North Minneapolis a safer place.
âThis is a vision that I fully support,â said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. “The more I hear about it, the more I learn, the more excited I get.”
This is called the “Community Safety Specialist” program, or CSS.
âIf we do this right, it adds to the work our police officers do on a daily basis,â Frey said.
The idea is to put ordinary citizens trained to defuse crime and promote peace in the neighborhoods. They will be a resource for those who need them most.
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“Together we have this comprehensive effort that centers on aspects of de-escalation, community orientation, and again on those deep-rooted relationships that help us prevent violence in many cases before it even happens. to happen, âFrey said.
The pilot model is divided into 15 districts. Each district in the northern Minneapolis area will have a district manager and CSS officers who are currently mentored to help reduce crime rates.
âA lot of us know that one murder leads to six. So if we can build around that first murder, talk to family, talk to people, seek to create options for peace,â Gayle Smaller said, president of the NRRC security committee.
Frey also said in the coming weeks that he plans to submit a formal funding request to city council. The cost of the program is estimated to be at least $ 1 million.