Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department of Public Safety to enter into contract with The Research Foundation of the City University of New York on behalf of Criminologist David Kennedy and the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College to assist the City in taking steps towards the implementation of a comprehensive Group Violence Intervention (GVI) strategy in Columbus. GVI focuses on the groups at highest risk for violent victimization and offending, with the intention to keep those in them alive, safe, and out of prison.
The National Network’s operational approach includes working with cities to identify serious violent crime problems; assembling partnerships of law enforcement, community leaders, and social service providers; conducting crime analyses to identify the conditions driving the majority of serious offending; devising a response that uses enforcement strategically to reduce collateral consequences while increasing police legitimacy and public safety; focusing services and community resources on those at the highest risk for violence, victimization, or offending; and, where applicable, delivering prior notice of the consequences for further offending.
This legislation seeks a waiver of the competitive bidding provisions of the Columbus City Code. National Network for Safe Communities, a project of John Jay College of Criminal Justice is uniquely well-suited to serve as consultants to Columbus' law enforcement and community partners in their implementation efforts. David Kennedy and the National Network is also the only entity that can offer access to scores of jurisdictions across the country that are implementing its violence intervention strategies, providing Columbus the opportunity to directly collaborate with and learn from peers doing this work. Mr. Kennedy is among the nation's most respected consultants in the field of modern policing and has been for over 20 years, since the mid-199...
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