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Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin spoke before the Birmingham City Council on Tuesday, where his $15.8 million plan to retain and recruit officers was approved. He also highlighted some programs within Birmingham that will work with his plan since the city cannot “arrest their way out of this.”
He noted the most important relationship for the city’s endeavors between the Offender Alumni Association, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Trauma Division and the Jefferson County Department of Health, which launched the year-long pilot program Violence Intervention and Prevention Partners in early 2023.
Uche Bean, Director of Community Safety Initiatives, spoke to the Public Safety Committee with an overview of the program’s current progress and the benefits of an expansion.
The main goal is to reduce subsequent acts of violence involving the program’s clients. In Birmingham, some residents who suffered from non-fatal gunshot injuries would return within 6-12 months with injuries of the same kind.
In the program’s pilot year, there were 42 clients enrolled, and in it’s second year, there were 78 clients enrolled. Of these clients, 98 percent have not experienced any additional injuries from gun violence. None of the clients have been involved in retaliatory shootings or incarcerated since enrolling.
The UAB Trauma Division and Acute Care Surgery identified and referred patients to VIP2. Patients who were Jefferson County residents between the ages of 19-39 and who had survived a non-self-inflicted gunshot injury engaged with violence intervention specialists while still in the hospital.
However, the program also offers many resources to enhance client educational attainment, employability and employment status that will ultimately help lower the reinjury rates.
Going forward, the program would expand it’s pilot program into the UAB Emergency Room as well as the Trauma Division. Data points on non-fatal gunshot injuries can be overlooked when considering the full picture of gun violence in a region.
A gun violence problem analysis would also be performed to analyze trends to supplement law enforcement with analyzing the areas with the highest risk.
There is a larger percentage of people with gunshot wounds who are admitted into the UAB ER and then discharged rather than being admitted to the UAB Trauma Division for a gunshot wound.
An expansion of their available services would also include intervention. Outreach workers would be working nontraditional hours and placed in their own communities where they are seen as credible messengers. They would be vetted by a Community Hiring Board comprised of faith-based and community leaders as well as community organizations.
Committee members praised the progress that had been made so far and said they were excited to see it continue to grow. The expansion will go before the Budget and Finance Committee next.
