National Youth Violence Prevention Forum Beat Intro Voiceover 00:00 This is the Beat – a podcast series that keeps you in the know about the latest community policing topics facing our nation. Interview Barry Bratburd 00:08 This is Barry Bratburd with the COPS Office. With us today is Chief Kelly McMillin with the Salinas Police Department. He was recently named chief after serving for 24 years with the department. Congratulations, chief! Chief Kelly McMillin 00:19 Thanks, Barry. Pleasure to be here. Barry 00:21 Salinas is part of the National Youth Violence Prevention Forum. This initiative was launched by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education and strives to help local communities effectively maximize the use of limited resources and also provide an opportunity to learn about strategies that effectively target youth violence in other communities. Can you tell us about Salinas’ participation in the forum? Kelly 00:43 Absolutely. The city of Salinas, relative to the other five cities in the forum, is really the smallest one, the others being Memphis, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, and San Jose, California. It’s a real honor for a small town of 150,000 to be participating in the forum. Our selection was due to a really amazing collaborative we have in Salinas called CASP, the Community Alliance for Safety and Peace. It’s one of those collaboratives that’s brought together all the players, all the stakeholders in youth violence across the spectrum of prevention, intervention, enforcement, and reentry. That’s become the centerpiece of our contribution to the forum. Barry 01:18 Like you said, the forum stresses comprehensive approaches that blend prevention, intervention, enforcement, and reentry strategies. How has your approach to youth violence programs been refined as a result of your participation in the forum or, in the language of community policing, how has it helped you achieve organizational transformation. Kelly 01:36 Well it’s really been… the process of developing a comprehensive strategic work plan that we’ve implemented in a particularly affected part of Salinas that really has been a direct result of our participation in the forum. That work plan brings together, again, all the stakeholders that I just described, in a specific neighborhood doing very specific tactical work as a collaborative. Instead of agencies operating independently and in silos, we have begun to share information and really take case management to the individual level – what we call a cross-functional team – where we’re discussing specific individuals, specific families, and directing resources right to them for a very targeted approach. Barry: 02:18 Great. The National Youth Violence Prevention Forum provides opportunities for the six participating cities to exchange information and strategies. What is the most important information that you’ve learned from the other jurisdictions? Kelly 02:29 Our cross-functional team that I was just describing is really a hybrid of what we saw in two different jurisdictions: the PACT model in Boston, where they’re doing case management at the community level, and a similar model in San Jose, where they’re doing case management based on high school districts. These are both collaborative units that are working together to bring case management to affected individuals. Really that’s been, probably, the most valuable and impactful part of the national forum for us. Barry: 02:56 And what have other jurisdictions learned from Salinas? Kelly 02:59 I think what people have taken away from Salinas is our ability to engage the community. When we developed our strategic work plan, we did it at the community level. It was driven by the community. We have developed a community leadership academy. We are letting the residents tell us what they need instead of the traditional government model, I think, of us coming into a neighborhood and saying “Hi. we’re here to help, and this is exactly how we’re going to help you.” We’ve turned that around and let them direct us. It’s really been remarkable how people with very little training and just a little bit of motivation and support can really bring to light what they need in their communities to fix it. I think that’s what jurisdictions are seeing as the strong point in Salinas’ effort. Barry 03:41 In 2010, Salinas implemented a ceasefire strategy to address shootings and gang violence. Can you describe the program and how it’s helped you better target your resources for more effective policing? Kelly 03:52 Ceasefire has really been great for helping us focus, particularly on enforcement strategy. We’re, like every other police department, losing police officers at an astonishing rate because of the local economies. We’ve had to really focus our efforts, and we’ve done that a couple of ways. We’ve focused our enforcement efforts to deal with the most violent young men who are at large in the community. We’ve targeted them to remove them from society. The other side of it is taking those at-risk young men, kind of the next level down from those very violent people, and offering them an alternative to incarceration, hopefully before they go out and create victims. That’s done through job training, employment opportunities, drug and alcohol counseling, all those supports that we know without which these young men might find themselves involved in gang activity and, ultimately, violence. That two-pronged approach, the offer of hope with the very firm understanding that if that offer is not taken and they resort to violence that the enforcement arm is coming, I think, has really been effective in focusing our enforcement. Barry: 05:01 Great. Now in April you were honored as a White House Champion of Change. Congratulations on that honor! Kelly 05:06 Thanks very much. Barry: 05:07 Can you tell us about the event and what it means to you and your colleagues in Salinas? Kelly 05:11 Well, the event was simply amazing. What an honor to be recognized by the administration and the White House. It happened to be me who was named but it’s clearly, I think, a reflection of the Salinas Police Department and really the whole effort that was going on in Salinas. I’m very proud to be part of that effort. I think it really does speak to all the hard work that’s going on in Salinas and at the Forum Barry: 05:35 Chief, thank you so much for providing us with your expertise and your time. Kelly 05:38 My pleasure. Thanks for having me here. Beat Exit Voiceover: 05:41 The Beat was brought to you by the United States Department of Justice COPS Office. The COPS Office helps to keep our nation’s communities safe by giving grants to law enforcement agencies, developing community policing publications, developing partnerships, and solving problems. Disclaimer 05:58 The opinions contained herein are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific agencies, companies, products, or services should not be considered an endorsement by the authors or the U.S. Department of Justice. Rather, the references are illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues. ####END OF TRANSCRIPT####