Pittsburgh officials launch health, safety and violence prevention initiative

Pittsburgh’s new Health, Safety, and Violence Prevention Initiative emphasizes policing and social services reforms to ensure that people facing a crisis will have access to the right resources and responders.

“This is our way of taking a public health approach to address the underlying issues,” Councilman Ricky Burgess said, at the program’s announcement on Friday. “Historically, we put money into policing, prosecution and incarceration. Now we are prioritizing prevention, intervention and reintegration.”

Mayor Bill Peduto emphasized the initiative as a way to “reimagine policing.”

“There is a strong demand throughout this country to reimagine policing,” Mayor Bill Peduto said. “We’re talking about having our officers there in our neighborhoods, where they’re needed, where calls are coming from, especially in our lower income neighborhoods — and recognize that critical need can have new partners that are dealing directly with the core issues affecting people.”

Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess discussed the city’s initiatives. pic.twitter.com/dUqXFVuQ6f

— Julia Felton (@JuliaFelton16) October 30, 2020

Peduto cited the death of Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia as an example of why he believed these reforms are necessary.

“We need professional people who are trained with mental health issues — and that doesn’t require a gun,” Peduto said, though he emphasized that it will be imperative to have police working in tandem with other responders and resources.

The initiative includes the Office of Community Health and Safety and the Office of Community Services and Violence Prevention. This program is working in collaboration with the STOP the Violence Initiative spearheaded by councilmen Burgess and R. Daniel Lavelle.

“In July, we announced the Office of Community Health and Safety as an opportunity to learn more from our community, to learn more from our first responders, and to build out responses and resilience in the community that would mitigate harms that people are experiencing in encounters with public safety,” Office of Community Health and Safety Manager Laura Drogowski said.

The Office of Community Health and Safety will partner with the Office of Community Services and Violence Prevention.

“While the Office of Community Health and Safety focuses on the alternative response we can have to public safety, the Office of Community Services and Violence Prevention will be focused on how we can be more restorative in our police practices,” Burgess explained.

This action follows recommendations from the Mayor’s Community Taskforce for Police Reform.

Peduto touted the community engagement in formulating this initiative.

Part of @billpeduto comments regarding the city’s new health, safety, and violence prevention initiatives pic.twitter.com/seYNCSskn9

— Julia Felton (@JuliaFelton16) October 30, 2020

These efforts will be supported the STOP the Violence funding City Council granted earlier this year.

The initiative will employ a community engagement specialist, a victims assistance coordinator, an overdose prevention project coordinator and others.

It will also include grants for community groups working on violence disruption work.

“Part of what we’ve heard from the community is ‘help us help ourselves.’ We understand what is plaguing our communities and we understand what it takes to bring our communities back and make them truly livable, but we need assistance,” Lavelle said, noting that the grants will help to fund community programs who share the initiative’s goals.

“By working together, united in purpose, we can transform our city, strengthening it for all of its residents,” Burgess said.