Innovative violence-reduction initiative presented to Albany City Commission

ALBANY — A former Albany City Commission member has suggested a novel way to deal with youth violence by treating it as a health and community issue instead of just a law enforcement matter.

Citing the 21 gun deaths in the city last year, Henry Mathis made his pitch to the current commission during a Wednesday work session delayed a day due to the Tuesday election.

A number of universities around the country have received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to perform studies that were used to develop plans to address youth violence that involved health care organizations.

“This is no different than influenza, the mumps, measles, chicken pox and, of course, COVID-19 now,” Mathis said during a telephone interview after the morning meeting. “It was killing people, so it was deemed a public health issue. The important thing is to declare it is a public health issue.”

In Minneapolis, Minn., for instance, the city worked with the state’s Department of Public Health and other organizations, including law enforcement, to implement a plan that reduced violent crimes against young people dramatically and a 76 percent reduction in arrests of young people on gun-possession charges, Mathis said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced or eliminated recreation programs for children in the community and left them with more unstructured time, as about half of the 14,000 Dougherty County School System students have received instruction at home instead of attending classes on campus. The school system last week announced a return to an all-virtual online instruction mode through at least January as cases of the novel coronavirus and hospitalizations have spiked.

“We need to be ready for when we get COVID behind us,” Mathis said. “We have to have a comprehensive plan to reduce youth violence.”

Commissioners invited Mathis, whose time was limited by commission rules to 7 1/2 minutes, to make a more broad presentation to its Public Safety Task Force, which has among its goals addressing violent crime in the city.

In addition to the Dougherty County Health Department, Mathis said the program would involve other health care organizations, including mental health, and churches, as well as law enforcement. It also should offer opportunities such as internships for young people, Mathis said.

One young man Mathis encountered, he said, got a job with Wal-Mart, which he lost after a minor criminal issue was discovered in his background check.

“When he had the job, his gang-bangers were excited and they were wanting to get jobs, too,” Mathis said. “When he lost his job, they were deflated. We have a number of companies in Albany (that) we could get to help out with internships, job-shadowing.

“Poverty in neighborhoods is contributing to more aggressive forms of youth violence. The way we get the kids to put the guns down, (is) we give them opportunities.”

Albany State University also would be a partner in conducting the study, Mathis said.

“Law enforcement’s job is not to stop or prevent the violence,” Mathis said. “Their job is to arrest (criminals) after the violence. We have people involved in stop the violence (efforts). The only time you heard stop the violence was after somebody had been killed. Twenty-one people were killed last year in Albany. We need to think outside the box.”

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]