Today, we begin with a conversation about the violence interruption program Safe Streets. It’s a central fixture of the Group Violence Reduction Strategy that Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has implemented to reduce violence in our city.

Safe Streets has operated in some areas for 15 years, providing credible counselors, known to their communities, who help diffuse tense situations and help people resolve conflicts peacefully.

Last week, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Gun Violence Solutions released a report assessing the effectiveness of Safe Streets. It concludes “that there is evidence that Safe Streets has yielded important reductions in homicides and nonfatal shootings.”

Dr. Daniel Webster, a distinguished research scholar at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions. is the lead author of the report, called Estimating the Effects of Safe Streets Baltimore on Gun Violence. 

Professor Daniel Webster join us on Zoom.

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