I will call on the New York State Attorney General to expand the gun buyback program by providing an on-going gun amnesty program for Monroe County. I will propose legislation to mandate the sale of gun locks with guns sold, transferred, and manufactured within the county. Approximately half of the children who commit gun crimes at school found the gun at home and 70 percent of murders nationally are committed with guns. By taking illegal and unwanted legal guns off the street and by reducing children’s access to weapons, our community will be that much safer.

I will direct the County Directors of Public Safety and Human Services to work with the Sheriff to assist in developing a plan to recruit more minorities and women as Deputy Sheriffs, and I will invite the clergy to partner in this effort. I will work with the public sector labor unions and Monroe Community College to develop an internship and loan program for income eligible youth that will enable them to attend Monroe Community College and to repay their educational debt over five years through community service as a police officer or human services worker.

In 1992, in the aftermath of a similar onslaught of violence, a citizen’s task force, The Community Mobilization Against Violence, was convened in Monroe County. The task force issued a comprehensive and prescient report: The Will to Reduce Violence – Mobilizing the Greater Rochester Community. Unfortunately, many of the report’s recommendations have not been implemented and innocent lives have been lost.

The report’s finding on the causes of violence in Rochester and many of its proposals are still relevant today. It noted poverty, a fractured urban education system, the lack of affordable housing, and racism as contributing factors. More recent studies have also pointed to a history of violent victimization early in life, substance abuse—especially alcohol—exposure to violence in the environment around you, and prior violent behavior as risk factors for violent shooting crimes. The report also cited violence as a public health issue, the need for an anti-violence curriculum in our schools, and job training and employment efforts for young African Americans and Latinos whose rates of employment significantly lag behind those of other groups.

Most significantly, the report emphasized the necessity of city/county collaboration to confront violence. Specifically, the report recommended that “(t)he Mayor and County Executive should immediately jointly appoint a permanent task force with appropriate staff, budget, and other necessary resources to oversee implementation of the recommendations of this report.”

As County Executive, within my first 30 days, I will invite the City of Rochester to participate as a full partner in establishing a Permanent Anti-Violence Task Force. Community stakeholders such as the law enforcement, neighborhood association representatives, youth advocacy groups and social service agencies, labor, education, clergy, and business representatives will also be invited to participate. I will create an Office of Anti-Violence within the County Department of Public Safety to provide staff support to the task force.

The Permanent Anti-Violence Task Force’s first charge will be to re-examine the Will to Reduce Violence report; cull out any outdated recommendations; prioritize the remaining proposals; scrutinize the forthcoming report of the Anti-Poverty Initiative for complementary proposals; benchmark effective strategies elsewhere; add new initiatives based upon current circumstances; and report back its findings within 90 days, with an action plan and timeline for full implementation of the relevant proposals.

The Permanent Anti-Violence Task Force will also be tasked with examining the role that organized or ad hoc youth gangs play in the current cycle of violence and developing any supplementary recommendations necessary to address this unique aspect of the problem.

Our beloved community of Monroe is on the cusp of an unprecedented renewal. Investments in photonics and in the anti-poverty effort promise to reshape Monroe County in ways that we can only imagine. But without meaningful steps to stop the escalating violence that plagues us, we will never be whole. We must start somewhere and this is a place to start. There is more that must be done. We must do everything we can to protect our children and our community. It’s time for us to act. It’s time for a new direction.

KEY ASPECTS OF SANDY FRANKEL’S ANTI-VIOLENCE AGENDA

• Create a fast-response outreach team in the County Office of Mental Health to work with communities and victims of violence and determine short- and long-term needs.

• Work with the New York State Attorney General’s Office to provide an on-going Monroe County gun amnesty program.

• Mandate the sale of gun locks with county gun purchases.

• Develop a plan to recruit minorities and women as Sheriff’s deputies.

• Institute an internship and loan program at MCC for income eligible youth who will repay their educational debt through community service as police officers or human services workers.

• Work with the business community to develop and expand internship programs for students as a viable path to success in the workforce.

• Invite the City of Rochester to partner with the County to create the Permanent Anti- Violence Task Force called for in the 1992 Report: The Will to Reduce Violence – Mobilizing the Rochester Metropolitan Community

• Establish an Office of Violence Prevention within the County Public Safety Department to staff the Permanent Anti-Violence Task Force.

• Prepare an action plan and timeline for the implementation of those proposals that are still relevant from the 1992 Report, as well as new initiatives based upon current findings and benchmarking.

• Examine the role that organized or ad hoc youth gangs play in today’s violence and propose means to address that aspect of the problem.