EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

AND MEDIA RELATIONS

1

WHAT IS THE CARDIFF VIOLENCE

PREVENTION MODEL? 

More than half of violent crime in the United States is 

not reported to law enforcement, according to the U.S. 

Department of Justice. That means cities and communities 

lack a complete understanding of where violence occurs, 

which limits the ability to develop successful solutions.

The Cardiff Violence Prevention Model provides a way for 

communities to gain a clearer picture about where violence 

is occurring by combining and mapping both hospital and 

police data on violence. But more than just an approach to 

map and understand violence, the Cardiff Model provides a 

straightforward framework for hospitals, law enforcement 

agencies, public health agencies, community groups, and 

others interested in violence prevention to work together 

and develop collaborative violence prevention strategies.
TOOLKIT: EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA RELATIONS 2

The greatest benefit to implementing a Cardiff Model 

communications plan is to ensure transparency and trust with 

local communities. The Cardiff Model is intended to benefit the 

community. The Community Safety Partnership (CSP) should 

designate a centralized point of contact to serve as the lead on all 

communications and media. This person should: 

• Take the lead on developing a communications and media 

strategy for the partnership, 

• Draft communications materials, 

• Provide expert guidance on strategic communications 

and develop decision-making processes for reviewing 

communications materials under consideration by CSP 

members, and 

• Coordinate with media relations staff who serve within the 

collaborating members’ individual organizations, as needed. 

Planning for communications and media should be done 

collectively and in tandem with all other project planning, and may 

include some or all of the following activities:

• Communications Strategy & Plan

• Goals and SMART Objectives 

• Audience Analysis 

• Risk Communication Plan

• Communication Channels

• Budget: Financial resources, human resources, and

in-kind resources

• Products and Activities: A work plan, including a time-line, 

is recommended to streamline needed inputs and desired 

outputs, roles and responsibilities, monitoring and evaluation

MEDIA ENGAGEMENT AND STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

Information about the project should be prepared by the media lead regardless of whether 

the CSP intends to engage the media. The information should include the development of 

talking points about the project (frequently asked questions, history of the Cardiff Model, 

information about the local CSP collaboration), a general timeline for project implementation, 

a list of the organizations that are collaborating together and other relevant public information.

Collaborators will need to review and approve all documents prior to dissemination.

SMART

ARE:

OBJECTIVES

SPECIFIC

Concrete, detailed, and

well defined so that you 

know where you are 

going and what to expect 

when you arrive

MEASUREABLE

Numbers and quantities 

provide means of 

measurement and 

comparison

ACHIEVABLE

Feasible and easy to 

put into action

REALISTIC

Considers constraints 

such as resources, 

personnel, cost, and time 

frame

TIME-BOUND

A time frame helps to set 

boundaries around the 

objective
TOOLKIT: EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA RELATIONS 3

SAMPLE: CARDIFF MODEL PRESS RELEASE

JANUARY 18, 2017 – Violence is a serious public 

health problem that affects people of all ages, but 

according to the U.S. Department of Justice, more 

than half of violent crime (53 percent) in the United 

States is unreported to law enforcement. Therefore, 

communities lack a complete understanding of 

where violence occurs and how to develop tailored 

prevention programs. The Cardiff Violence Prevention 

Model (Cardiff Model), developed by surgeon and 

Professor Jonathan Shepherd, M.D., of Cardiff 

University in the United Kingdom, provides a way for 

communities to gain more complete information 

as to where violence occurs and how to prevent it 

by forming partnerships between hospitals and 

law enforcement and others interested in violence 

prevention. Grady Memorial Hospital and DeKalb 

County Police Department have created a local Cardiff 

Model partnership.

The partnership, known locally as the United States 

Injury Prevention Partnership or USIPP, has worked 

since June 2015 to collect anonymous information 

on the location and timing of violent events and 

use that information with existing law enforcement 

records to create local maps of where violence occurs. 

Local maps have identified that the southern region 

of DeKalb County has a higher number of assaults 

and crimes than other areas of DeKalb County. This 

information and predictive analysis enhances law 

enforcement efforts and helps guide environmental 

improvements that can reduce crime, such as 

building repairs, safety improvements, and other 

USIPP-led ideas. Currently, USIPP is partnering with 

DeKalb Police Department’s South Precinct and 

business group to develop public health strategies 

and environmental approaches to address violence 

and crime in the area.

The DeKalb County Police Department works with area 

businesses to improve public safety and seek new 

opportunities to prevent crime in DeKalb County. "We 

welcome community involvement and partnerships 

to enhance the quality of life for the residents of 

DeKalb County," said DeKalb County Police Chief 

J.W. Conroy. "We are always looking for new and 

innovative ways to identify and reduce crime."

USIPP’s support and community engagement have 

strengthened the interest of businesses to prevent 

crime by improving their properties using evidencebased environmental approaches such as property 

beautification and increased security measures.

Daniel Wu, M.D., associate professor of emergency 

medicine at Emory School of Medicine, says, "The 

opportunity to work with DeKalb County Police 

Department allows the hospital [Grady Memorial 

Hospital] to prevent violence before it enters our 

doors. We are committed to improving the health 

of our communities by making them safer through 

innovative programs like the Cardiff Model and 

partnerships like ours with DeKalb County Police 

Department." 

USIPP also has been working closely with the Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division 

of Violence Prevention, which has provided technical 

assistance and support for adapting the Cardiff 

Model to the United States and selecting public health 

approaches for violence prevention.

Preventing violence and making communities safer 

are key USIPP goals. DeKalb County Police Department 

and Grady Memorial Hospital hope to engage with 

more community groups, public health agencies, 

local governments, and others interested in violence 

prevention to scale up and sustain implementation 

of the Cardiff Model in the Atlanta metropolitan 

area. South DeKalb County businesses interested 

in learning more about how the local Cardiff 

model partnership could benefit their business 

and communities are welcome to attend the next 

business group meeting, scheduled for Feb. 22, 2017, 

from 10:00–11:00a.m. ET at South DeKalb County 

Police Precinct, 2842 H F Shepard Drive, Decatur, GA 

30024.

LEARN MORE about the Cardiff Model and how to start using it in your community’s violence 

prevention efforts at www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/fundedprograms/cardiffmodel

This material was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The pilot 

of the Cardiff Violence Prevention Model was a collaboration between the CDC, DeKalb County 

Police Department, Grady Health System, the University of Pennsylvania, and the CDC Foundation. 

Support for this pilot was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.