Durham, N.C. –Durham’s Gang Reduction Strategy Steering Committee, a group of community leaders that provides oversight of local gang prevention, intervention, suppression and reentry activities, has released its 2014 Gang Assessment Report. City Manager Tom Bonfield and County Manager Wendell Davis are co-chairs of Durham’s Steering Committee. A Comprehensive Gang Assessment for Durham was previously completed in 2007.

Since the 2007 Assessment, Durham has made great strides in comprehensively addressing youth violence and gang involvement, said Jim Stuit, Gang Reduction Strategy Manager. These include:

o Formation of a Gang Reduction Strategy Steering Committee comprised of top community leaders who are dedicated to reducing youth crime and gang involvement
o Utilization of street outreach workers and a multi-disciplinary Intervention Team (Project BUILD) to provide case management to gang-involved youth
o Supporting fiscally stable and research-based programs that have strong connections to Durham’s at-risk community

The 2014 Community Gang Assessment was conducted as a preliminary step in identifying specific areas of focus and related factors that are driving Durham’s gang violence issues. Areas examined were law enforcement data, Durham Public Schools data, community perceptions data and available community resources. Utilizing the data collected during 2013-14, and leveraging existing interagency partnerships and engaged stakeholders, Durham City and County are ready to begin creating a strategic action plan to address youth violence in the community. Key law enforcement findings of the assessment include:

o Less than 5 percent of all police incident reports between 2009 and 2012 listed a validated gang member as a victim or suspect
o Property crimes involving gang members have decreased over 30 percent over the past five years
o Violent crimes involving gang members have increased over the past five years. Law enforcement has identified the rather small group of individuals committing these crimes and is using a “focused deterrence” approach that gives them the choice of ceasing criminal activity or facing the maximum consequences of their behavior.

Funding for gang crime prevention is often contingent upon a community’s thorough assessment of gang activity. By completing the 2014 Updated Gang Assessment, Durham is now better positioned for Federal and State grant opportunities.

The 2014 Updated Gang Assessment, can be found on the Durham County website, at http://dconc.gov/index.aspx?page=1435.

For more information, contact Jim Stuit, Gang Reduction Strategy Manager, Criminal Justice Resource Center at (919) 560-8580 or jstuit@dconc.gov

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