Internal data collection. For the first time, probation and police officers work together to monitor both adults and juveniles who are in pretrial or sentencing status. The MAVI teams also respond to referrals from judges, probation officers, and pretrial and post trial sources.
Priority is given to cases involving violence, weapons possession, and gang affiliation.
The most common violations found during these visits are possession of drugs or weapons and probationers under the influence of drugs. About 40 such visits are made each week by 50 probation and police officers. Police and deputies train with probation officers for 2days to learn about their respective roles in this operation. The Minneapolis police chief believes the MAVI program is largely responsible for the drop in the city's homicides during the summer of 1997, which fell to 8 from 40 the previous summer. The former commander of the gang unit also believes MAVI has had a deterrent effect because probationers do not like being known on a personal level by probation officers and the police.