Stockton got smarter about crime in 2006 when a Harvard expert outlined the way to reduce the city’s gun violence. Whether Stockton’s been effective is the big question.
The city in 2014 created a permanent Office of Violence Prevention to intervene in the lives of young men doing most of the shooting. But, like a basketball team with good game plan but poor execution, the OVP has yet to put up good numbers.
Its problems led to the San Joaquin County grand jury’s latest report, “Shining Light into Dark Corners: Is the Office of Violence Prevention Worth the Money?”
First off, that “Dark Corners” thing. Government may justify a dark corner or two, but there’s no reason the OVP should be one of them — unless officials want to hide something.
OK, the background. Officials estimate most city gun violence traces to around 700 youths. Of these, 100 to 200 are the worst. The idea is for Peacekeepers to reduce this nucleus.
The grand jury criticized the OVP for not giving the public any way to tell if it’s doing this job, such as tallies of gangsters recruited by Peacekeepers, counseling, housing, job placement, tattoo removal, etc.
In fact, the OVP recently started issuing light reports.
The May 29 report shows the OVP is helping 51 clients. Of these, 76 percent were “gang affiliated,” 37 percent had been shot and 80 percent shot at.
Of the 162 clients helped in 2017, 113 were placed in jobs. The report does not say how many held their jobs. Just one of the ways the report could be expanded.
The best statistic: since January 2017 only 15 percent of OVP clients have been re-arrested. This recidivism rate is dramatically lower than the county’s AB 109 felons, 53.1 percent of whom re-offend.
Preliminary figures seem to show many OVP clients are staying out of trouble.
Strangely, the report shows that, far from ramping up, the OVP is helping fewer youths: those invited to call-ins, those who attend, those who ask for help has dropped over the past three years (granted, 2018 isn’t over).
“We’re in little bit of a dip right now,” said Christian Clegg, the deputy city manager who oversees the OVP. “Some of the clients transitioned out, went off case loads. We’re shooting for the 80 range.”
By “transitioned out,” Clegg means left gangs, got a job, housing and stable, productive lives.
One of the resources that helps these youths get new lives are the “CBOs,” or community-based organizations, churches and the like. The grand jury faulted the OVP for alienating these important partners.
“A previous community outreach employee ... criticized many CBOs and made them not want to work with the OVP,” the grand jury report said.
Are you kidding me? Yes, Clegg acknowledged. “There was some friction caused by the previous community engagement person,” he said.
So, the person hired to make friends with CBOs and bring them into the program actually “criticized many” and put them off. It highlights another OVP problem: bad hires.
The position was left vacant for months, too.
Peacekeepers used to trawl for at-risk youths in tough neighborhoods, recruit and mentor them for months. The grand jury criticized a recent decision to split that job in two. Now some Peacekeepers recruit, then hand youths off to case managers.
That may make the youth feel abandoned, its report says.
Clegg disagreed. Outcomes at similar agencies show the clients need daily contact, if only by phone, and two or three “quality contacts” — in-person time — two or three times a week, Clegg said.
When one Peacekeeper tried to do it all, “We weren’t seeing as much progress with the clients,” Clegg said. Some Peacekeepers reportedly disagree. Time will tell if this policy is right.
The job of the OVP, particularly the Peacekeepers, is scientifically conceived, right for Stockton, and incredibly difficult. Still, four years in, the OVP isn’t hitting on all cylinders.
But it may be hitting on some. Homicides haven’t decreased significantly, but nonfatal shootings have; from May 2017 to May this year they dropped by 40 percent.
“We do feel there is a direct connection” to the OVP, Clegg said.
The public deserves even more measurables, for instance, the total number of gangs and gang members in Stockton over time so as to determine whether the OVP’s efforts are adequate.
And why the obscurity? The OVP has had it’s successes, and we should know of them.
Last word to Mayor Michael Tubbs: “I believe that we owe it to the taxpayers to be as transparent as possible,” he said in a statement. “Reducing gun violence in Stockton is a top priority of myself and the council. ... I will work on behalf of the public to ensure these programs are producing results.”
June 19, 2018
Stockton Record
By Michael Fitzgerald
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