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Baltimore City, Police Department and State’s Attorney announce initiatives aimed at reducing violence

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BALTIMORE — Baltimore City, Police Department and State’s Attorney have announced several initiatives aimed at reducing violence in the city.

The initiatives are guided by a collective Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS), also known as focused deterrence.

GVRS is an evidence-based approach that officials say is proven to reduce serious violence while simultaneously building better relationships between the community and law enforcement.

The first initiative is a Request for Proposal where the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice seeks to address a gap in the city’s support and outreach ecosystem for high-risk individuals.

The next initiative is the Baltimore Community Intelligence Centers which provide a mechanism for interagency coordination that builds on existing collaboration between city, state, and federal partners.

The final announcement on Wednesday was a technical assistance package tailor-made to Baltimore’s needs to support all aspects of planning, implementation, and evaluation of the GVR Strategy.

“Along with all of our cross-sector partners, we are eager to begin working with Dr. Braga and his team. This type of strategy has been proven to work in other cities and is a fundamental element of my crime plan that stresses a need for comprehensive solutions to reduce gun violence,” said Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison. “In addition to our state and federal law enforcement partners, we are now working alongside members of the community to not only improve our relationships but to also make Baltimore a safer place to live. We owe it to the residents of our city to ensure this strategy is developed in the right way with proper performance metrics in reducing violent crime.”