Malloy Touts Effort To Curb Gun Violence In Cities

Less than two weeks after 10 people were shot in a single weekend in the capital city, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the state will step up enforcement efforts on known criminals in an effort to curb gun violence in Connecticut’s urban areas.

Flanked by Hartford’s mayor, the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut and other officials from around the state, Malloy said Thursday that crime in Connecticut has been decreasing, but that gun violence in the large cities remains “unacceptably high.”

Malloy said the state will spend at least $500,000 to implement in Hartford and Bridgeport a program known as “Focused Deterrence,” which would increase enforcement on a small number of people who have been arrested before who police believe are responsible for most of the gun violence.

Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the state will spend $500,000 to implement programs aimed at curbing gun violence in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport. Malloy said crime has fallen in Connecticut in recent years, but he said gun violence in the state’s urban centers remains “unacceptably high.”

Malloy said police in New Haven have started implementing the Focused Deterrence program in “recent months,” though he said the program would likely have its “greatest effectiveness” next year. The initiative is modeled after efforts to curb violent crime in Boston, Chicago, Providence and Cincinnati.

“The vast majority of gun crimes are being committed by a fairly small number of individuals within each of these cities,” Malloy said. “It is going to be our focus with that group of people to lower violent crime and homicides.”

According to statistics provided by Malloy’s office, 94 of 129 homicides statewide in 2011—about 72 percent—occurred in either Hartford, New Haven or Bridgeport.

Through last Saturday, there had been 55 shootings in Hartford this year (PDF), a number that was about 20 percent lower than the same point in 2011.

“Young people are killing other young people, often for no discernible reason,” said Malloy, a Democrat. “As a result, we’re losing young people, and children are growing up without parents. It’s got to stop.”

A spokeswoman for the Hartford Police Department said Interim Police Chief James C. Rovella would not be available for interviews Thursday and was still reviewing the governor’s announcement. But Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra also endorsed the program Thursday.

“I know that this program won’t give every unemployed person a job. It’s not going to eliminate all the crime for our communities,” he said. “But it does accomplish one important thing: that is to keep our young men and women alive.”

The governor offered few details about what changes the program would bring to the cities.

“The specific techniques that we’ll use, to be honest, aren’t ones we want to talk about in too great of detail,” he said.

Pressed by reporters, Malloy said the program would involve police meeting with convicts who are released from jail and having probation officers be “vigilant” in their supervision of past offenders. He also said law enforcement officials would re-establish contacts with community groups and would help convicts find jobs after they leave prison.

The governor did not say whether the Focused Deterrence program would be aimed at gangs in the state. But a 2008 report (PDF) by the Albany, N.Y.-based John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety many cities that use such programs do target gangs.

The report said police in other cities have used tactics that include one-on-one meetings inmates or injured gang members in hospitals, “call-in meetings” with groups of violent offenders and radio announcements about the consequences of committing crimes.

Malloy said there would be no set end date for the enhanced program in Connecticut.

“The truth be told, this needs to be the new norm,” Malloy said.