During the past decade, the epidemic of gun violence has led residents and law enforcement agencies in each of the communities profiled in this section to form a collaborative to find new solutions to this problem. In some cases, these efforts have been driven by neighborhood residents determined to address the problem of gun violence and to take back their streets. In other communities, crime reduction efforts have been spearheaded by police, prosecutors, the courts, schools, health departments, public and private social service organizations, or members of the faith and business communities. Regardless of who initiated the various crime prevention efforts, however, these communities have learned that each of these institutions contributes to the collaborative's ability to mobilize resources and implement strategies that produce desired outcomes. In particular, citizen participation in crime prevention efforts has been critical to their success and sustainability.
Police can do their job more effectively when the community's priorities shape their actions.
The subsequent development of trust enhances this partnership and results in greater police-community cooperation and mutual support. These communities have also learned that their efforts must be long-term in order to be effective, and that capacity building in different sectors of the community is needed. Support for a collaborative increases if a broad range of community residents and law enforcement representatives recognizes the prevalence and incidence of the gun violence problem and participates in planning and implementing appropriate suppression, intervention, and prevention strategies. A fundamental challenge that many partnerships face in reducing illegal firearm possession, carrying, and use is to convince those who carry guns that they can survive in their neighborhoods without being armed. Programs in these communities must work to dispel the perception of many residents that the authorities can neither protect them nor maintain order in their neighborhoods.