KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A team of Knoxville leaders met Thursday afternoon to discuss ways the city can reduce violence and prevent violent situations from occurring.
The Violence Reduction Leadership Team was formed as a result of a plan from the Office of Community Safety to address violence. The Community-Based Violence Reduction Plan was finalized in May 2023. In it, the office said 37 Knoxville residents died in 2020, and 41 were killed in 2021. In 2022, the plan said an additional 35 people died violently.
"Knoxville will save lives by reducing community gun violence, cutting the numbers of fatal and non-fatal shootings by 10% each year starting in 2023. At the same time, we will improve trust between government agencies and our most impacted communities, as measured by new tools such as surveys as well as individual and group consultation," the plan says.
The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform is working with the city on the plan, and it said similar plans have worked in other cities.
It says the leadership team should be solution-focused, providing communities with concrete relief as measured by reductions in shootings. It also says the city's solutions should be partnership-based, coordinating with stakeholders to build trust in communities.
It also emphasizes community engagement, particularly with people most frequently exposed to crime and violence. The plan specifically says Black communities are significantly impacted by poverty, linked to community-based violence.
It says around 30% of Black residents live below the poverty line, compared to around 12.2% of white residents in Knoxville. It also says Knoxville's population is around 17% Black, but around 75% of shootings between 2019 and 2021 involved Black residents.
"Black residents experience the highest poverty rate of any racial demographic in Knox County," the reduction plan says.
The plan recommends engaging high-risk people through the Group Violence Initiative, identifying people at high risk for violence and communicating directly with them about the commitment leaders have made to stop violence.
"The supports and services necessary to engage high-risk individuals and groups may not be currently available in the city, thus developing that capacity must be a top priority for city and community leaders," the plan says.
It recommended making sure the GVI was fully operational by September 2024, led by the Office of Community Safety. It also recommended the city form police-community partnerships in specific areas where crime and violence are most reported. It recommended these locations have an active partnership council by September 2024.
The plan also recommends leaders build up community outreach efforts to support other efforts by September 2024, helping recruit frontline workers with ties to impacted communities who can help mediate disputes and prevent violence from erupting.
"That's what this is about, is that intervention. Stop the bleeding and then you can address the more systemic issues of poverty, and lack of opportunity, and so forth. So, poverty is a big issue and, you know, our whole community needs to be addressing that. This is about stopping the bleeding and saving lives," said Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon.