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City Council Shifts Reliance Away From Law Enforcement As DSM Juvenile Crime Rises

by | Dec 16, 2021 | Policy

The recent increase of Des Moines Juvenile gun crime has many worried for the future of the next generation.

To combat this rise, the Des Moines City Council passed a proposal to shift reliance away from law enforcement when dealing with 14-25-year-olds.

“The City of Des Moines has adopted a new public health approach to preventing violent crime called ‘Cure Violence,” states the Council Communication report.

Des Moines will have a $380,000 1-year contract with Creative Visions in addition to a $65,000 1-year contract with CVG.

“CVM is a behavior health approach to violence prevention, rather than a law enforcement-based approach,” states the report detailing the newly adopted plan where it will mainly focus on the Drake Neighborhood and Evelyn K. Davis park areas.

Staff members or “Violence Interrupters” hired by the new program are assigned to” Identify where to concentrate efforts, focus resources, and intervene in violence.”

The report notes how Des Moines has multiple organizations and “Credible members” to prevent violence.

It is planned for the Cure Violence group in charge of the new initiative only to use five people to interact with high-risk individuals at the age of 14-25 years to curb violent crime.

Creative Visions is a local non-profit known for its activism and mobilization, founded by State Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad.

This past city council election cycle, Black Liberation Activist Indira Sheumaker ran on a platform of defunding the Des Moines Police Department, unseated two-time incumbent Bill Gray.

Early this fall, Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert commented to reporters about the uptick in juvenile gun violence.

“We can’t keep going down this road. The young people, it appears to me we are losing a generation here-We can’t keep going down this road. The young people, it appears to me we are losing a generation here,” said Wingert according to Who13.

Additionally, Public Information Officer Sgt. Paul Parizek stated,” It takes a community-wide response to figure out how we’re going to keep guns out of kids’ hands and also stop the kids who desire to get guns, having access to those guns,” according to a KCCI report regarding youth involved in crime.

Just this past year in Des Moines, teenagers exchanged gunfire on Franklin Street on March, 4 Juveniles were charged in the shooting of 2 teens, the fatal shooting of 16-year old Elijah Brown Townsend, and the shooting of 2-year-old Malcolm Mai, who was shot in the head, are many of the few incidences that have occurred involving juvenile suspects and victims.