Safe Streets' violence-reduction work praised in Hopkins report

By Tom Hall,

Teria Rogers, Malarie Pinkard-Pierre, Rob Sivak

Published April 4, 2023 at 12:00 PM EDT

Members (and friends) of Safe Streets, a corps of trained, community-based city employees who work to prevent gun violence by interacting with high-risk groups in selected neighborhoods. The program is administered by the Mayor's Office of Community Safety and Engagement (MONSE). (photo courtesy MONSE) — Members (and friends) of Safe Streets, a corps of trained, community-based city employees who work to prevent gun violence by serving as "messengers" who encourage positive, non-violent behavior among high-risk groups in selected communities. The program is administered by the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE). (photo courtesy MONSE)

The Safe Streets logo. (courtesy MONSE)

Today, we begin with a conversation about the violence interruption program Safe Streets.

It’s a central fixture of the Group Violence Reduction Strategy that Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has implemented to reduce violence in our city.

Safe Streets has operated in some areas for 15 years, providing credible counselors, known to their communities, who help diffuse tense situations and help people resolve conflicts peacefully.

Dr. Daniel Webster is a distinguished scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Pubolic Health's Center for Gun Violence Solutions. (Hopkins photo)

Last week, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Gun Violence Solutions released a report assessing the effectiveness of Safe Streets. It concludes “that there is evidence that Safe Streets has yielded important reductions in homicides and nonfatal shootings.”

Dr. Daniel Webster, a distinguished research scholar at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions. is the lead author of the report, called Estimating the Effects of Safe Streets Baltimore on Gun Violence.

Professor Daniel Webster join us on Zoom.