INDIANAPOLIS — The City of Indianapolis and Indy Public Safety Foundation are teaming up to create a “violence interrupters” program. The goal is to connect with those committing or at risk of becoming a victim of gun violence.
Six people will be contracted through the Indy Public Safety Foundation as paid “interrupters.” "These guys are all from here, they grew up here, they grew up in the neighborhoods where we see a lot of the high crime take place,” said Shonna Majors, Director of Community Violence Reduction with the City of Indianapolis.
Majors says these interrupters will be tasked with building a relationship with very specific people. “We have a list of about 65 individuals in the city that are thought to be involved in violent incidents, so it's targeted. We go to those people on that list and begin engaging them,” said Majors.
One of the interrupters is Shane Shepherd. He says he will be able to connect with these community members in a way that law enforcement and other public officials can’t. “Prior to becoming a credible messenger, prior to changing was reflective of the lives that I see out here now. I was a young man that was lost and didn't know how to think. I didn't know how to resolve conflict, had substance abuse issues, had experienced traumas. That recipe equals criminal behavior,” said Shepherd.
He’s hoping to connect with people going through that now. He will work with Majors’ team to connect those at-risk community members with resources and job opportunities. “Some of them are like no, we don't want nothing to do with this, but just the consistency of the interrupters and my team of, OK not today, that's cool. We will come back, here's my card and we just keep coming back until they see that we're not kidding. That we are serious about helping them transform their lives,” said Majors.
“What drives me to want to do the work is because I understand that all but a behavior that we see the end result of is not necessarily intentionally criminal. Some of them are victims of their own circumstances,” said Shepherd. “Our job is to try to change it from a non-law-enforcement standpoint prior to you even engaging in this.”
