Mental health, public safety and homelessness continue to be a major focus for Fayetteville residents voicing concerns to the Fayetteville City Council.
To address these public health and safety issues, city leaders and community partners are looking to develop a new model of public safety in Fayetteville, one that has already been adopted in some shape or form by 62% of the largest 50 cities in the U.S., according to the National League of Cities.
Locally, this model is taking the form of the Office of Community Safety (OCS).
What is an OCS? Where did the idea come from?
In the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests and Black Lives Matter movement, the country grappled with fundamental questions about the nature of public safety and policing, sparking cities to consider new public safety models that fill gaps and provide interventions in nonviolent situations and mental health crises.
Alternative response models and violence interruption programs have popped up in cities across the country in the past three years. This includes some of Fayetteville’s peer cities in North Carolina, such as in Durham, with its HEART program, and in Greensboro. Raleigh is also developing a similar alternative response program.
An OCS can take several forms, but the primary focus is preventing violence by introducing programs and alternative response teams that de-escalate conflicts before violence breaks out. A common method discussed in recent city meetings and implemented in community safety programs nationally is 911 call diversion. This involves social workers, peer support specialists and mental health professionals working alongside traditional first responders in addressing non-violent 911 calls, like mental health crises.
Another OCS model discussed in city recent meetings emphasizes community violence interruption programs. Such programs seek to prevent violence through community outreach, such as targeted workforce development, while addressing trauma from gun violence and connecting individuals with case workers.
In addition, some programs aim to reduce negative interactions with police, especially in Black and brown communities, by implementing trained community response teams.
Ideally, the programs also address the root causes of violent crime — poverty, unemployment, trauma, homelessness — said Dr. Gerard Tate, the director of the N.C. Office of Violence Prevention within the N.C. Dept. of Public Safety.
Tate is guiding the Fayetteville City Council’s efforts to develop an OCS. He spoke at Fayetteville’s April 30 public safety summit, where over a dozen local experts from public health, law enforcement and criminal justice backgrounds came together to talk about goals for Fayetteville’s OCS. About 50 people, including elected officials from the city and county, were also in the audience.
Dr. Jennifer Green, director of the Cumberland County Dept. of Public Health, also spoke at Monday’s summit. Green said about 80% of homicide deaths in Cumberland County are the result of the use of a firearm, and assault with a firearm was the fifth leading cause of death in emergency room visits.
“This is new for us in public health, because for a long time, public health has kind of stayed out of the conversation around firearms, because we said that's behavioral health or that's mental health, or that's a crime issue,” Green said. “But we know, as we heard Dr. Tate say, this is a public health issue. And so we want to be talking about that as well.”
Tate emphasized the need to focus on providing resources and support to the most at-risk populations for gun violence locally — young Black men. Green said young men of American Indian/Alaskan Native were also in this group.
“We have to build a robust wraparound ecosystem to support the young people that we're talking about,” Tate said.
Why it matters
Although violent crime reached a seven-year low in Fayetteville, the city recorded 53 homicides last year — a record-high — and 39 suicides, a 56% increase from 2022.
The city is also dealing with an affordable housing crisis and grappling with a large number of people experiencing homelessness, but not enough shelter beds. Among largely-urban areas, Fayetteville ranked the highest in the country for unhoused people who are unsheltered (91%), according to the 2023 annual assessment report from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, released in December. Fayetteville’s Day Resource Center has also had challenges, with the current operator choosing to end its one-year contract with the city.
Meanwhile, the Fayetteville Police Department has also been challenged over events that took place in 2023, particularly in the fall, during which time:
The department’s use-of-force incidents and internal investigations also increased between 2022 and 2023, jumping from 68 to 82 and 56 to 74, respectively.
Alternative response programs have been shown to reduce crime and gun violence in several cities. For example, in Denver, Colorado, locations where 911 calls were diverted to mental health specialists for nonviolent events corresponded with a 34% drop in reported crimes during the six-month trial, Stanford News reported. In San Francisco, California, fewer than 1% of calls directed to the city’s alternative response crisis intervention team ended in violence, and none had resulted in death or arrest, a 2022 Mother Jones report stated.
Violence interruption programs were also associated with decreases in gun violence: specifically, a 63% decrease in gun shooting victimization in South Bronx, New York, and a 43% reduction in gun-related deaths and assaults in Richmond, California, the Center for American Progress reported. Detroit, Michigan’s homicides in 2023 fell to lowest levels since 1966, coinciding with greater investment in community violence intervention teams and alternative response teams for 911 calls, Vox reported.
What’s going on with Fayetteville’s OCS?
A grassroots campaign for an OCS in Fayetteville began in early 2023 when activists with Fayetteville Freedom for All advocated for the city to develop an alternative response model. Fayetteville City Council members got involved with these discussions in March 2023, when the activists held a town hall, where council members were involved in discussions.
In June 2023, the city funded the OCS with an initial budget of $250,000 to hire an OCS director. At a discussion meeting on April 26, city staff said the initial six-month search for a director was unfruitful, but they are nearing the completion of the second search and have narrowed the list to around 15 qualified applicants.
Assistant City Manager Jeffrey Yates said the city is aiming to schedule an assessment for later this month, which includes performance-related exercises that resemble work situations.
“Our plan, hopefully, if all goes well, is to have that position filled by the end of June,” Yates said.
Council Member Mario Benavente, a strong advocate for the OCS, said he was “cautiously optimistic” after the April 30 summit, noting his colleagues’ increasing interest — with Mayor Mitch Colvin and Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen leading the April 30 discussion — and the large number of community stakeholders at the summit.
“We'll see if it comes to fruition, I like to think — cautiously optimistic — that, because we did this big show of force, that the momentum is swinging towards funding the office appropriately and effectively,” Benavente said. “But I'll believe it when I see it.”
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608.
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