(File Photo)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Green Bay city leaders are preparing to take its newly formed Office of Violence Prevention into the next phase.
The Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) was formed last March after the city received a $1 million grant to address violence in the community.
Jerry Overstreet, the director of OVP, says it’s not just up to the police department to solve all violence issues but also takes community involvement as well.
“So we’ve had conversations about how do we identify the most at-risk individuals within our community that may be perpetrators of violence or victims of violence, so then we’re going to have some honest and courageous conversations with those individuals and ask them a question of what can we do to support you?” Overstreet said.
In the near future, OVP will start hiring what they call violence interrupters. These will be people who are invested in the community, have life stories within the community and want to make it a better place to live. They will be in contact with at-risk individuals and help prevent retaliation to stop the cycle of gun violence.
Overstreet says this strategy will be implemented to prevent other crimes in the city, such as auto thefts and domestic violence.
In December, Green Bay police chief Chris Davis credited, in part, the formation of OVP as the city reported overall crime dropped 13% in 2023 compared to the year before.
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