Fort Worth leaders establish new anti-violence program after 2019’s violent summer
The Fort Worth Police Department announced a new program on Friday that will address crime in some of the city’s neighborhoods most affected by violent crime.
Deputy Chief Neil Noakes said the program — called VIP FW — will focus on the Stop Six, Eastwood, Meadowbrook, Hattie and Morningside neighborhoods and the Allen Street corridor. The program could also include the Las Vegas Trail area.
The announcement comes a little more than a year after the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on a particularly violent summer after a decades-old gang feud flared up. About 10 shootings in one month were tied to the feud and three people were killed including 19-year-old Briuna Harps, who just finished her first year of pre-med classes and was headed to Atlanta to spend the summer with her dad. Harps was standing outside of her sister’s apartment when a group drove by and began shooting.
She was not involved with gangs.
In trying to find a solution to the violence, the Star-Telegram spoke with leaders and participants of the Advanced Peace program in Richmond, California.
In the mid-2000s, Richmond partnered with the men most responsible for gun violence and offered them an alternative — to be positive mentors for the younger men of Richmond who had been following in their footsteps. And the mentors would get paid for it.
Violent crime in the years following the Richmond program’s implementation dropped more 70%, according to city statistics that are reported to the FBI.
The newspaper presented its findings to Fort Worth City councilwoman Kelly Allen Gray, who then asked the rest of the council to explore establishing a similar program.
At the direction of the City Council, Noakes began to research the Advance Peace program in Richmond, California, and the Stand Up SA program in San Antonio. He and other city leaders traveled to the cities to learn more.
Over the course of a year, Noakes and a team developed VIP FW.
“We’re not going to arrest our way out of violent crime” Noakes said during Friday’s council work session.
The program will focus on investing in the health and well being of those involved in group violence. Its goals include strengthening the relationship between police and communities and providing a path for people who want to stop being involved in criminal behavior. It will also emphasis successful re-entry of ex-offenders who are being released.
Rev. Rodney Macintosh, who leads the program, told council that so far the program has engaged with 175 people. Thirty-eight of the people were known or suspected of being involved in shootings.
The group mediated 25 conflicts and interrupted possibly 18 shootings.
MacIntosh said a lot of the outreach started through social media, where often conflicts begin.
Noakes said the program is looking for funding through Crime Control and Prevention District, which was just locked in for another 10 years, but is also looking for grant funding from the Department of Justice.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Fort Worth leaders establish new anti-violence program after 2019’s violent summer."
