By Anthony Smith, Executive Director, Cities United
Our current public safety ecosystem is not working for all of us – it protects and serves a few of us, while policing, prosecuting and punishing the rest of us.
At Cities United, we believe that cities, counties and states can redefine public safety – creating an ecosystem that is designed to make sure that everybody lives in communities that are safe, healthy and hopeful.
We also believe that it takes a systems-wide approach to achieve true public safety, that’s why we support jurisdictions in developing and implementing a comprehensive public safety strategy that involves leveraging the political will of elected and appointed officials, and the public will of community-based organizations and community leaders, and young leaders.
Our Public Safety Redefined (PSR) framework, adapted from our Reimagining Public Safety (2020) guide – provides jurisdictions with a new way to define and deliver public safety more equitably, while centering those at the highest risk of being impacted by community violence.
The PSR framework is a comprehensive public safety ecosystem designed to interrupt the cycle of community violence, dismantle systems of inequity and invest in new infrastructures. This new comprehensive ecosystem incorporates the current “traditional” public safety models – putting the emphasis on intervention, prevention, making the ecosystem more proactive – instead of reactive. Allowing the traditional public safety models to focus on the issues that they are trained to address – taking some of the burden off their shoulders.
Our comprehensive public safety ecosystem creates more room at the table – inviting a cross-sector gathering of leaders, including those who have been most impacted – to share solutions, resources and accountability. We believe this holistic approach will not only keep folks safe – it will put them on pathways to thrive, that should be the goal of public safety.
To develop, implement and sustain these comprehensive public safety ecosystems, Cities United has created a Roadmap to Safe, Healthy and Hopeful Communities – a planning tool that walks jurisdictions through our five phases:
- Preparing To Plan
- Constructing A Multi-Year Plan Of Action
- Implementing A Multi-Year Plan Of Action
- Developing A Continuous Improvement & Evaluation Plan
- Creating A Sustainability Plan
At the end of this planning process, jurisdictions will have a more comprehensive public safety ecosystem – supported by a cross-sector table and a written long-term plan, and championed by community members.
We’ve seen this process work in the following jurisdictions Lexington, KY, Toledo, OH. Greensboro, NC, Denver, CO, Baltimore, MD, and Philadelphia, PA – none of these ecosystems are perfect, but they are moving in the right direction and saving lives, while also saving taxpayer dollars.
With budget cuts happening at all levels, dwindling interest in being a police officer, the demand for new public safety models, and the documented proof that community violence intervention programs are helping to make communities all across the country safe, healthy and hopeful – Now is the time for every elected and appointed official to redefine public safety in their jurisdiction and reinvest dollars in a ecosystem that intervene, prevent, heal and create new pathways for those who have been most impacted by community violence with opportunities to thrive.
Visit citiesunited.org to learn more about framework and join us for our 12th Annual Convening October 29th – 31st in Louisville, KY. Use the promo code CU2025MIP for a special 50% discount.
See you in Albuquerque!
Peace,
Anthony D. Smith
Executive Director