The OVP was established last June based on the work of a previous city task force on gun violence and recommendations from members of the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force advising a shift away from existing public safety approaches. More than $1.24 million has been dedicated to supporting youth, promoting gun safety, and sharing other community-oriented violence reduction strategies during the OVP's first year in operation.
In addition to new gun storage and stress mitigation campaigns launched earlier in March, the office also aims to spend around $1.13 million on localized violence intervention and grant opportunities through 2022. Solicitations for those projects are coming soon from the city, and the OVP is also working to secure hundreds of thousands more in grant funding for firearm and neighborhood safety programs.
During a March 22 briefing to City Council, OVP Manager Michelle Myles said those initiatives share goals of investment and collaboration with residents in areas at heightened risk of violence. The strategies fall in line with the office's public health thrust by offering prevention and education where it is needed most, Myles said, while complementing more traditional policing and crisis intervention.
"There is a national trend of violence increasing, even in light of police presence. It is a reality of what’s happening. And some of the strategies that I mentioned before, like Address Your Stress, the de-escalation [and] the conflict mediation, are designed to be used so that we can have that skillset within the community," Myles said.
Gun violence, Sixth Street safety
One of the OVP's primary areas of focus, gun violence received additional attention during the council session given the mass shooting that took place in the early hours of March 20 on Sixth Street—the second in less than one year.
“It is really important that we treat gun violence in particular as a disease and take a public health approach. This doesn't substitute for public safety approaches that complement this work, but it is really important if we want to address the root causes of violence and to ultimately prevent it," Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter said.
Last spring's fatal shooting in the downtown entertainment district prompted council action in the form of the Safer Sixth Street initiative. That planning process has progressed since last summer, and earlier this month officials voted to continue the work with several directives covering pedestrian safety, increased engagement with bar and restaurant owners, and the police and EMS presence in the area.
District 9 Council Member Kathie Tovo, who represents East Sixth and has sponsored council's Safer Sixth resolutions, also referenced several more actions the city could take in its attempt to enhance safety in the area. While noting that Austin Police Department data does not back up the concept of a curfew for minors along the corridor, Tovo said the city could take legal action against venues with "repeated histories of violence" and potentially look to limit the open carry of firearms on Sixth. Tovo said she believes there is "at least one option" the city could take on that front, and asked for city lawyers to meet with officials for a discussion of that strategy as soon as next month.
Myles said much of the violence referenced by council stems from interpersonal conflicts rather than gang activity, which the OVP's new community resources and gun education campaign could help address.
“We live in Texas, and Texas is a very gun-supportive culture. And at the Office of Violence Prevention, we’re not anti-gun, we’re pro-gun safety," Myles said. "We need more pro-gun safety practices to change norms around violence, to do things in terms of educating the bar area and that entertainment area downtown about de-escalation."
