Mismanagement of violence prevention puts Minneapolis residents in danger

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An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The old proverb holds true — especially when it comes to public safety.

In 2018, Minneapolis established an Office of Violence Prevention based on a growing national understanding that preventive services are one of the most effective and efficient ways to improve public safety. In 2022, the Office of Violence Prevention became the city’s Neighborhood Safety Department (NSD).

Two of NSD’s key programs use the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) model. Research indicates that about 0.5% of a city’s people are involved in as much as 70% of its shootings. GVI asserts that focused interventions with this key population can massively reduce violence for a whole community.

GVI has had impressive results: A 34% reduction in homicides in Indianapolis. A 63% reduction in youth homicide in Boston. A 41% reduction in violence for participants in Cincinnati.

While GVI is saving lives, it is also saving resources: fewer 911 calls, fewer ambulances and police deployed, fewer jail cells filled.

Success stories exist here, too.

Last June, the Minneapolis City Council organized a presentation to hear firsthand from violence prevention providers and participants. One 19-year-old participant shared that GVI was the reason he had not returned to high-risk behavior. “I didn’t used to think about what I do in the world, how it affects everyone as a whole,” he shared. “[The program] really opened my eyes. There’s way more opportunities out there. There’s way more to life.”

In response to increased youth auto thefts, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office established a Youth Auto Theft Early Intervention Pilot Program in 2023 that used focused intervention to provide the most at-risk youth with preventive resources. Eighty-one percent of youth served didn’t receive any new charges.

Violence prevention at the city and county levels have helped to prevent violence on a daily basis. As our city works to build a community safety system that goes beyond policing, it’s imperative that we preserve and expand violence prevention programs.

Unfortunately, our efforts to invest in violence prevention have been severely hindered by mismanagement of the city’s Neighborhood Safety Department for the past two years. Poor contract management caused inconsistent service delivery. Crucial relationships with local and national stakeholders were damaged, resulting in programing and services falling below national best practices and standards. Staffing troubles left the department without the necessary expertise, particularly in highly specialized fields like GVI.

It cannot be overstated: residents served by GVI are most at-risk of being either perpetrators or victims of shootings. Mismanagement of GVI has left these residents without services and, by extension, has made Minneapolis less safe.

Understanding the high stakes of this mismanagement, the City Council has persistently tried to get needed corrective action from the administration of Mayor Jacob Frey. There were months of attempts to address these concerns in meetings. When that didn’t work, the Public Health and Safety Committee chairs wrote a memo outlining concerns and asked the administration to present a management plan. When that plan wasn’t delivered in the agreed-upon timeline, we formally requested answers by November. The response finally came last week, and didn’t instill confidence that anything has improved.

The council has used our budgetary, policymaking and oversight authority to try and get desperately needed GVI services to the most at-risk individuals. But the council does not have the authority to manage NSD; operational oversight is the sole responsibility of the mayor.

Good leaders know when it’s time to ask for help. That’s why we are proposing that the city’s GVI programs be temporarily moved to Hennepin County.

GVI has been severely mismanaged by the current administration at the city, and residents are paying the price. In 2024, Minneapolis stood out as one of the few cities in the nation where homicides rose instead of declined. This is not surprising, given that throughout the year, NSD mismanaged contracts with professionals specifically skilled in engaging the small group of individuals most likely to be involved in violence. We can’t let mismanagement of GVI contribute to an increase in homicides again in 2025.

Temporarily moving this program to the county will ensure that the expertise needed to decrease violence is administered correctly. The move will also give NSD the time and capacity it needs to stabilize the department and focus on administering its other programs, like MinneapolUS violence interrupters, community trauma response, hospital-based intervention and more.

We believe NSD can get on track, and we look forward to the day when we can return GVI to the city with confidence that these crucial programs will be administered effectively. Until that day, residents deserve to know that those most at risk of being involved in a shooting are getting the preventive services they need, seamlessly deployed by GVI professionals. The safety and wellbeing of our city depend on it.

Robin Wonsley represents Ward 2, Jason Chavez represents Ward 9, and Elliott Payne is president and represents Ward 1 on the Minneapolis City Council.