GREEN BAY, Wis. — A potential new program in Green Bay, Wis., would work to head off gun violence before it happens.
State and local leaders announced a $1 million grant from the Medical College of Wisconsin to establish an Office of Violence Prevention in Green Bay.
The office still needs approval from the city council, but could be operational by the summer.
Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis said the idea is to head off gun violence before it happens.
“A lot of times we place emphasis on reactive strategies to deal with the problem, like investigating crimes after they’ve occurred and holding people accountable,” he said. “That’s important and we’re not going to stop doing that, but something like this is really intended to get at that upstream prevention.”
Davis said the office would be geared toward making community connections.
“It’s definitely another tool in the toolbox for the city and the community. This isn’t just a police program,” he said. “We will obviously have a lot of involvement in it because our officers will be working with these people on a day-to-day basis.”
Cheryl Renier-Wigg, Green Bay's deputy development director, said should the office get approval, some of the first key hires will be violence interruptors.
“Their goal is to go out and meet people where they are and hopefully build relationships to say, ‘Hey, maybe you don’t want to go out tonight and do this situation.’ Or, hopefully to stop them from being victims themselves with gun violence crime,” she said.
Renier-Wigg said an important part of the program is connecting with people where they live.
“It’s not an enforcement tool. There will be enforcement, but this is really more of an outreach tool to work with people one on one to build that relationship socially,” she said. “It’s had good results in other cities so I’m looking forward to giving it a shot here.”
Davis said part of that prevention comes from helping people who may be perpetrators or victims preemptively connect with other community resources.
“Whatever it might be that they need,” he said. “Whether it’s job training, addiction or mental health support, or something else. It’s just trying to get them off that path.”