Chicago uses teams of crisis responders to prevent violence. Is it working?
CHICAGO (CBS) – Only on CBS 2, we're hearing directly from the violence prevention and crisis response team launched by Gov. JB Pritzker in Chicago.
What have they accomplished so far? And are they making a difference? CBS 2's Tara Molina has been asking about this team for months.
The group of 30 has been at work in Chicago since CBS 2 first started asking about their work before Memorial Day.
Cedric Hawkins is one of those workers. He said it can be hard to quantify violence prevention, but they are making a difference.
Keeping crowded areas safe is not just up to law enforcement anymore.
"We did a great job out here this weekend," said Hawkins.
He's part of the special team, created by the state, and announced by the governor's office. It's a citywide crisis and response unit, trained in violence prevention and a whole lot more.
"We get deployed for mass shootings," he said.
He was on the 31st Street Beach responding to a large group of teens this past holiday weekend.
"Nobody harmed, nobody hurt, and no fighting," he said.
The unit works across the city, is dispatched when needed, and is prepared to handle and de-escalate situations like those that Chicago police call "large group incidents," but Hawkins tries to step in before the police do.
"It's easier for individuals like myself to be able to get ahold of these teens because at one point in time, I was in their place," he said.
Hawkins added, like this weekend on the beach, they've had success in preventing the violence the city has seen associated with large groups in the past.
Hawkins: "If one or two does some things, most of the times, it turns into a disease where all of them become a part of it and it's all out destruction."
Molina: "So really what you're doing is stepping in and preventing that disease from spreading?"
Hawkins: "Exactly."
So far this summer, Hawkins said nine teens he met doing this work have graduated from outreach programs he connected them with.
"Nine people?" he said. "That maybe can lead to 90 people."
He's helped others find work. So what's next for his team?
"We are expanding the program," said LaTanya Law, who leads the state's Office of Firearm Violence Prevention. "It is now year-round."
The program, originally set to only last the summer, will go through the end of next year. The state is using COVID money to pay for it, with $11 million this year and $30 million in 2024.
Law said it's worth it.
"This strategy has been proven as something that is helpful in reducing firearm violence in communities," she said.
There's been a 54% decrease in shooting victims in nine of the 14 areas the crisis responders are working in since they started, according to a state spokesperson. Overall, Chicago saw a 14% reduction in total "shooting victimizations" compared to the same period in 2022.
"It's not easy," Hawkins said. "It's not easy at all."
But, he said, a different result requires a different approach and community support helps.
"Being out in these neighborhoods and being in these areas without badges, without firearms, without bulletproof vests," he said. "It's a different model."
For more information on the Peacekeepers program, click here.
