KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Kalamazoo city commissioners have approved a contract with John Jay College and David Kennedy to reduce violence in the community by identifying violent individuals and fixing their lives.
It’s a formula and a strategy that has worked in much bigger communities.
Chief Jeff Hadley said the most-violent are a very small portion of the population, and it’s just a matter of giving them a choice and opportunities to be something else — something that won’t get them killed or sent to prison.
He said they have a good idea of who the violent ones are.
Hadley also said repairing their lives has to be a partnership between public safety, the community and the social services network.
The group intervention violence model may not work in every case, and it won’t eliminate all violence, but it’s still less expensive than financing long prison terms.
Kalamazoo has had programs like this for years to dissuade non-violent offenders.
Eighty percent of the cost of the new program will be underwritten by local foundations.
