With representatives from the New Orleans Police Department and other city leaders behind her, Mayor Latoya Cantrell announced a new approach Tuesday to fighting crime in New Orleans.
"Everyone is impacted by violent crime on our streets and we have to think differently to change the behaviors we are seeing," said Cantrell at a Night Out Against Crime event at A.L. Davis Park.
Cantrell's Cure Violence Initiative builds off of former Mayor Mitch Landrieu's CeaseFire program and is an approach taken in several other cities, including New York and Philadelphia. It has a focus on community engagement and public health, according to Cantrell.
"I think a lot of people are confused when they hear physicians and the health director talking about violence but what we know is that violence behaves a lot like many diseases," said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of the New Orleans Health Department.
Avegno says violence can be like an epidemic, spreading through neighborhoods and communities but she has faith in the Cure Violence Initiative.
"If we employ prevention and treatment, we have a much better chance of really tackling the root causes (as opposed to) our traditional 'lock everyone up' approach that really hasn't worked," said Avegno.
The prevention side of the Cure Violence Initiative involves teams of people who are called violence interrupters, who have no ties to the NOPD. According to Avegno, these are people who have had former lives of crime but have worked to turn things around. They are now mentors in the program, going back to their old neighborhoods and working to stop conflicts before they turn violent.
“They (violence interrupters) have a really good sense of which neighborhoods have certain things going on at certain times,” said Avegno. “They’ll walk the streets and talk to people and figure out where the conflicts are and offer to mediate those conflicts before they spill over into violence.”
But city officials say they also need help from non-profit groups like Louisiana Council of Resources, an organization helping formerly incarcerated inmates, like Alwynn Hardester, find a life outside of crime.
"The average person goes back to what they know best and that's what I knew best - fast and quick money,” said Hardester. “The money I make now isn't fast but it's for sure and I don't gotta worry about going to jail for it."
Cantrell didn't shy away from the fact this plan is going to take a lot of work but she remains confident it will make a positive difference.
"We are going to stand together surely to ensure that New Orleans is not only crime-free but we have a community that is healthy," said Cantrell.
Paul Dudley can be reached at pdudley@wwltv.com.