ST. LOUIS — According to the latest crime data from the St. Louis Police Department, there have been more than 1200 shootings in the city since January.
That's one of the reasons Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed has been pushing to implement a program called "Cure Violence".
Cure Violence stops the spread of violence by using the methods and strategies associated with disease control – detecting and interrupting conflicts, identifying and treating the highest risk individuals, and changing social norms – resulting reductions in violence of up to 70%.
Reed says "We don't need to reinvent the wheel. This is a program that works and St. Louis needs to implement it."
The city's Board of Estimate and Apportionment agreed to allocate $500,000 for a violence prevention program such as Cure Violence in the fiscal year beginning next month.
Reed says a 5 On Your Side investigation is helping to move the ball forward.
In November, 5 On Your Side traveled to New Orleans and saw first hand how the now former murder capital of the country reduced violent crime in its most dangerous neighborhood by nearly half.
Under their "Ceasefire" project which is like "Cure Violence", New Orleans attacks violent crime like a public health crisis bringing together several agencies to work as one — violent offenders face stiffer, federal sentences and former offenders embed in the community to deescalate fights before they turn violent. And departments that used to be separate, work together toward one goal: stop shootings and killings.
