There are a number of programs that have been developed throughout the country that have decreased violence in various parts of the world. These programs success is due to the hard work and effort of many people who are
dedicated to fighting crime. (u.smayors.org)

The COPS program, created in 1994 has provided $6 billion in crime fighting resources to more than 11,300 cities and towns across America. COPS grants fund additional police officers, valuable technology, and innovative crime reduction strategies. The nation’s mayors always cite the COPS program as a working example of what can be accomplished when red tape and bureaucracy are cut in favor of responsiveness and customer service.(u.smayor)

Crime is at its lowest level in a quarter of a century and has declined for six and a half straight years. This significant reduction in crime results directly from innovative community policing strategies being used across the country. By funding additional officers and providing invaluable training and technology, the COPS program has played an important role in helping American law enforcement move towards community policing as their primary crime fighting strategy. The experience of big cities, small towns, and communities of all shapes and sizes prove that this partnership between local communities and the Federal government works.(u.smayors)

The Youth Ati- Crime Team in New York have also had some success with decreasing violence among Children. The Youth Anti-Crime Team concept deals directly with targeting youth and youth crime. They identifying quality of life issues within a community that are adversely impacted upon by delinquency, which is an essential first step in targeting these areas and subsequently curbing the problems. Due to this program among others, Uniform Crime Report (UCR) reportable offenses in New York State had a slight decrease of (1.0%) in youth related crimes.
Another anti-crime program in New York is Brigdges 4 Kids. This program is a non-profit parent organization providing a comprehensive system of information and referral for parents and professionals working with children from birth through transition to adult life. Bridges4Kids also supports non-profits that share our mission with web design, data collection, telephone referral services and technical assistance (bridges4kids.org).

Research shows that children who had adult supervision after school were considerably less likely than unwatched kids to report they had sex, had been victims, used drugs or committed crimes. The benefits reach beyond the hours the children are in after-school programs, according to Sanford Newman, Fight Crime’s national director. “It also has a values and skills effect that they’re not home learning from Jerry Springer how to resolve conflicts,” Newman said. The group said more than 800,000 after-school-program places needed to be created statewide.
The programs would pay for themselves, not only saving lives and tax dollars, but allowing at-risk youth to become tax-paying adults.

Other more well known ati-violence program is D.A.R.E. This program is a drug, crime, and violence prevention education program in our nation’s schools that train officers to go in various schools to teach the youth about the dangers of drugs and the negative aspects of violence and crime. Numerous examples of D.A.R.E. officers preventing violence in the schools are reported every year. Because of these highly credible D.A.R.E. officers in the schools; students develop a close and trusting relationship. This relationship results in students letting officers know if “Johnny has a gun in his backpack” or about other potentially violent situations that may occur on campus. When not in a classroom teaching, each D.A.R.E. officer is a roving, armed, uniformed, radio-equipped officer in the school. Given that many school population’s number in the thousands of students per school, schools are communities of their own. D.A.R.E. officers protect those communities.When emergencies occur at or near a D.A.R.E. officer’s school, it is the D.A.R.E. officer who helps lock down the school, monitor the situation, and work with field officers to protect the children and staff. The presence of a uniformed D.A.R.E. officer on campus discourages any “Columbine-like event” from occurring.

All the programs mentioned above have proven to have many positve result for the people attending them. That is what I plan to obtain through the New Light program. I want to be able to motivate young people to become honest and responsible adult who will work hard to raise their family and help their community just as it helped them. I believe that everyone can help in this project. Everyone should take some time to become a big brother or a big sister in there communities so they can help the younger generation become better people. By doing this, you can make a great difference in the life of a child. This world can be very cruel to children, and we as young adults posses some knowledge that we can pass on to them which may help them become productive members of society. We must also aid them in overcoming some of life’s stuggles by being there to support them through the rocky roads of life. We all should be greatful that we have made it this far in life; we should help others do the same. This world is in desperate need of caring people like us who will do for others without seeking a profit. The world is ugly, but we must have hope that it can become a better place. Inorder for this to happen , everyone should do their part. The world won’t change by itself; we must work together and teach our children right from wrong at an early age. This process will be difficult, but mostly everything in life is hard. We must come together to join forces so that this program can help all those in need. There is no effort too small when it comes to making a difference in someone’s life. The teachers, parents, and family members can all be influential in the life a child.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 27th, 2005 at 8:08 pm and is filed under Project Progress, Week 07: Research Stats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.