Nashville taking on new strategy to fight violent crime

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A strategy used to fight violent crime in cities like Detroit and Chicago will be implemented in Nashville, city leaders said Wednesday.

A strategy used to fight violent crime in Detroit will be implemented in Nashville, city leaders said Wednesday.

Group Violence Intervention (GVI) has been implemented in cities across the country by the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College in New York. It encourages police, non-profits, and social services to work together to target a small percentage of the population that are responsible for around half of the homicides.

In Nashville, researchers with John Jay College, says 0.6% of the population (around 500 people), perpetuate much of the city’s gun violence.

“That small group put a lot of fear in a lot of people but if we can reach that small group, that small group could be what changes our city,” Community Safety Director Ron Johnson said.

The GVI unit will be housed within the Urban League of Middle Tennessee, and include a case manager who will be hired to target the population at a high-risk for violence. That case manager can help them with mental health issues, substance abuse, job training and education.

“Those needs are there, and that’s one of the things that they kind of bring to the table, to help us understand that we’ve to got to try and meet people where they’re at and try to provide some of those thing,” Johnson said.

MNPD crime statistics show violent crime is up 4.4% over the last year compared to the year before that.

Juvenile arrests are up 10.8% over that same time period.

To read more about the GIV initiative, visit https://nnscommunities.org/strategies/group-violence-intervention/

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