Advocates Request Pittsfield Office of Neighborhood Safety
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Advocates want an office of neighborhood safety within the City of Pittsfield following a string of gun violence incidents this summer.
Last week, during a virtual meeting, the Pittsfield Freedom Project called for public health interventions, such as violence interrupters, hospital violence intervention, and a neighborhood trauma response team.
"I'm sure everyone is aware; there have been at least four shootings. I've heard from people in the community that there have been more than that, but these are the ones that have resulted in injuries," said filmmaker Jenny Herzog.
"Resulting in one homicide and at least seven injured over the last couple of months."
Recent shooting incidents in Pittsfield ranged from June 18, when a person died after being shot in the area of Tyler Street and Pleasure Avenue, and another person was injured, to August 18, when one person was injured after shots were fired on Circular Avenue.
Herzog produced the documentary "Hear Me," which explores the impact of poverty and gun violence on young people in Berkshire County. Attendees also heard from local advocate and fourth-generation Pittsfield resident Kamaar Taliaferro, CEO of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence Ruth Zakarin, and Ben Snyder, a sociology professor at Williams College.
"Here we are again in another cycle of gun violence, without the tools we need, seemingly without the will to demand the tools, and even if we did, without leadership that would even understand what we're asking for," Taliaferro said.
"And it's not like we don't have the resources to build what we need. At least $1.3 million has come into Pittsfield every year for the past six years, targeted to interrupt the cycle of gun and gang violence that we are in this moment. And dating back even further, Pittsfield has received gun violence prevention money and has received gang violence intervention money since like 2014. Since the last time there was this like emergent cycle of gun violence in our community."
In Pittsfield, 13.4 percent of the population lives in poverty, but in the West Side neighborhood, 42.2 percent of families are below the poverty line. The percentage of families in the West Side living below the poverty line has quadrupled over the last 20 years.
Life expectancy is also lower in the West Side, 74, and Morningside, 71, than other Pittsfield neighborhoods, with a life expectancy of 83.5 years.
The four recent shooting incidents in Pittsfield occurred within one mile of each other, designating that area as a hotspot.
"Now we don't know whether or not these shootings were related or retaliation. We could speculate based on the nature of urban violence that when a shooting occurs, people do tend to retaliate," Herzog said.
"So the goal then would be to stop the transmission."
The office of neighborhood safety would oversee the violence interrupters, credible messengers who build relationships with highest risk people and cool beefs as they arise; neighborhood trauma response to shootings that connects the victim, family, neighbors, witnesses to resources; and hospital violence intervention to connect with victims while they are getting medical care, address trauma, provide follow-up care in the community, and connect to violence interrupters.
Taliaferro said having offices in city government isn't enough; transparent oversight is also needed to hold those offices accountable. They are asking that a commission on gun violence prevention and intervention be established by neighbors so they can be directly engaged in the effort.
Herzog said the question then becomes: After Aug. 18, what was the response to stop the further spread of transmission before another shooting happens?
Using the models suggested, presenters said that before the shooting, violence interrupters could build relationships with those most likely to shoot or be shot and cool down beefs as they arise, and after the shooting and the victim's transfer to Berkshire Medical Center, connect them with a hospital violence intervention advocate to tend to mental/emotional trauma and provide follow-up care when the victim goes home.
The advocate would then connect with violence interrupters and work together to assist the victim and prevent retaliation. Herzog spoke with BMC and said medical staff treat the physical wound when a person experiences violence, but at this time there is not much infrastructure for the resulting trauma.
After a shooting, violence interrupters would respond to the scene, publicly denounce violence, and connect with the highest-risk person to prevent retaliation. The neighborhood trauma response team would connect the victim, family, neighbors, and witnesses with resources.
"They work independently of law enforcement, so they do not share information with law enforcement, though it can be the case sometimes in some systems that law enforcement shares information with them, and this is really key to their credibility," Snyder said.
"If these high-risk individuals know that they're communicating with police, the whole thing will fall apart."
Presenters asserted that violence is concentrated, and intervention should be focused on those most likely to shoot or be shot — not spread out to anyone with a risk factor — and that relentless outreach is needed to bring help right to those who need it instead of waiting for them to come to you, and don't give up on people.
Snyder would advocate for all three programs in Pittsfield, and said even starting with one would bring a "massive change." He said places where these programs are successful have approached it with a coordinated effort from inside municipal government.
"So it is not just like program here, program there, not really talking to each other. The heads of these programs sit together weekly, sometimes many times a week, coordinating their efforts, and everybody is sharing the same data, and everybody knows what's going on," he said.
"So it's not being held inside a police department or a sheriff's office. It's usually inside municipal government or some sort of public health branch of municipal government."
Herzog didn't want to position the conversation as anti-police "because in cities where this works, the police department is very much a partner in this work, with an understanding that there's a common goal of reducing the violence," but pointed out that in Pittsfield, the police budget has gone up about 40 percent over the last five to ten years.
"So, I think it's not necessarily that there isn't money, but it's where the money goes," she said.
Activist Meg Bossong asserted there are "hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars that we could be spending on this" within the police department's budget.
Zakarin acknowledged that it has been a hard time in Pittsfield, and that there are likely people on the call who know people who have been, or people who this violence has touched.
"The coalition looks at gun violence as a public health crisis that is driven by racial and economic disparities, and requires a multi-pronged approach that includes strengthening our policies, making sure that we invest in community-based solutions, and also lifting up data and research," she explained.
"And we know when we do all of those things that we can, and we will move the needle on the impact of gun violence in our communities."
The coalition's current work is divided into four areas: education, legislative advocacy, community organizing and member support. It now has over 120 organizational members.
Tags: gun violence, public safety, shooting,
