Operation Ceasefire: City knows how to reduce violence

Jacksonville has seen this horror show too often in recent years.

A spike of violent crime.

Leaders mobilize.

Police saturate neighborhoods.

Add prevention and intervention to the mix.

We called this the Jacksonville Journey. But it never reached its funding targets. The Great Recession took care of that.

Now after a series of shootings, mostly in Northwest Jacksonville, city leaders are mobilizing again.

Mayor Alvin Brown, Sheriff John Rutherford and City Council members recently held a news conference to announce a renewed anti-crime project called Operation Ceasefire.

The focus will be on the same neighborhoods that have been targeted in recent months as centers of blight. In this case, violence is often involved with the illegal drug trade.

Thanks to the Journey, however, we know what to do.

WORKING WITH COMMUNITY

First, knock on 18,000 doors. Rutherford says that is under way. The idea is to connect with neighbors, ask for their help and for tips.

“The good folks have got to work with us,” Rutherford said in an interview. The community has to perceive this as protection, not oppression.

Step two is called “community problem solving.” The best example can be found in the New Town Success Zone. Police are helping to clean up the area and enlisting youth in recreational activities.

Rutherford recalls when the big change happened. Non-emergency calls went through the roof while 911 calls dropped.

“When you get them feeling that comfortable with calling the police, we can stop a lot of this stuff before it happens, but I’ve got to have staff to do that,” he said.

Part of that community engagement comes with a summer jobs program that Brown announced. It will be aimed at youth ages 16 to 21.

Rutherford realizes that flooding an area with police officers will only have a temporary impact. Community policing will be more longlasting.

But this requires boots on the ground. It takes time to develop relationships with the neighbors.

Rutherford is asking City Council to approve 40 additional police officers and 40 community officers.

Forty new officers will cost about $5 million. Forty community service officers will cost about $3 million.

Community officers handle more routine tasks.

Rutherford said there is no way to do this work on the cheap. He points to a graph showing a major drop in violent crime starting about 2008 when officers were at their peak numbers.

The decline was dramatized by the 72 murders in 2011, a modern low. Now violent crime is beginning to trend up, and murders are on pace to exceed 100 this year.

Since much of this is drug related, it takes time to develop a case against the dealers. And police must be prepared to arrest quickly once the case is made.

“I have to have the restoration of these officers,” Rutherford said. “We cannot continue like this.”

But it takes money. For the time being, Rutherford is pulling officers from around the city to focus on Northwest Jacksonville. That cannot continue. The rest of the city needs protection, too.

WHERE IS THE MONEY?

City budgets have been tight in recent years as pension obligations began to skyrocket.

Annual pension payments have more than doubled in recent years, and that still leaves major unfunded liabilities.

Operation Ceasefire will only be a temporary fix unless the sheriff gets his additional officers and unless there are enough funds to pay for public safety and all the other needs of a growing metropolis.

Jacksonville Journey showed us how to do it. We need to resurrect it.