After a recent surge of gun-violence the city, Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne Tuesday unveiled department’s three-year strategic plan that promises to transform policing in the city.
With protests against police brutality occurring across the country in recent weeks, the Grand Rapids Police Department’s three-year strategic plan begins by acknowledging that historically, segments of the community, including people of color, low-income residents and others, have been disproportionately impacted by police practices and the criminal justice system, but still focuses on the reduction of crime in the city.
The first goal of the strategic plan centers around increasing safety in neighborhoods that have historically high crime rates, by assigning a patrol officer on each shift to each geographic beat, creating a Crime Reduction Team to identify and address criminal offenders, and pursue data-driven, evidence-based strategies that address the root causes of crime.
The Department’s main goal however, is to stop crime from happening before it takes place through community engagement, specifically through overhauling the Citizen Police Academy, and the Police Youth Academy, and hiring a more racially diverse staff who embrace a guardian mentality for the neighborhoods they live in.
The unveiling Tuesday comes after the city recorded its 26th homicide of the year Sunday evening, just eight shy of the all-time record of 34 murders in one year, set in 1993.
Police officials told WGVU the department is ‘extremely frustrated’ at the rise in gun-violence and gang activity, but couldn’t provide a primary reason as to why it’s happening.