Homicide commission report offers strategies to reduce gun violence

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Following a record breaking year of homicides in Birmingham, a city commission submitted a report on potential solutions for the crisis to the mayor’s office on Monday. The report lays out strategies for how the city can reduce its homicide rate, particularly those stemming from gun violence. 

“We have the vision and determination to make Birmingham the safest city in America,” commission members wrote in the report. 

In October 2024, Mayor Randall Woodfin created an advisory commission made up of law enforcement, business leaders, religious figures and more. They were tasked with finding ways to reduce the city’s homicides and report back to Woodfin’s office within 60 days. The resulting report published this week compiles recommendations based on data, successful strategies used by other cities to reduce violence and community input. 

The report also called the current state of violence untenable and states that Birmingham’s homicide rate is currently seven times higher than the national average. This earned the city consistent rankings among the most dangerous cities in the country per capita for violent crime from 2019 to 2023, according to the report. The commission’s advisor, former Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper stressed the immediate need for solutions at a press conference on Monday. 

“As we all know, 2024 was a horrific year,” Roper said. “What are those programs and strategies we can implement to stop the bloodshed now?”

Recommendations in the 67 page report range from putting up better street lighting and security cameras around the city to targeting high-risk groups through law enforcement and social support.

Woodfin said the highest risk group is young black men who are in poverty and are either not in school or unemployed. The commission’s report emphasizes investment in pathways out of poverty, including education and job training. 

“Concentrated poverty, high unemployment for young black men, our teenage black boys not attending school, all compounded with the staffing issues police departments nationwide are struggling with has created the storm that we face,” Woodfin said. “Making sure that young black men are encouraged and empowered and gainfully employed is absolutely extremely critical to healing the generational issues that are in our community.”

The report also suggests the city expand the police department and implement street outreach, including hospital-based violence intervention programs. It recommended that police focus on crime hotspots around the city and conduct shooting reviews, analyzing violent incidents to identify patterns. 

Birmingham already funded a police recruitment and retention initiative last year. When asked, Woodfin said the difference between the commission’s work and previous efforts to address violence is the greater effort to gather feedback. Commission members represent law enforcement, government and business agencies and solicited input from Birmingham residents, making it a unique initiative. 

Officials offered no timeline as to when the report’s recommendations would be implemented.

The commission says the city should ensure strong and unified leadership among the city, business and community stakeholders. 

“There are too many grieving mothers, too many grieving families in our community,” Woodfin said. “What we need to do is make sure, as leaders in our community, we do everything we can to decrease gun violence in our city so we don’t have to have other grieving families.” 

The report also recommends that the city emphasize community engagement and tailor each action to individual neighborhoods. It suggests the city expand after school and recreational youth programming. It added that more needs to be done for people re-entering their communities after incarceration to support them finding housing, counseling, and jobs. 

“Our resolve is clear,” Woodfin said. “It’s time to get to work.”

A complete copy of the report and the commission’s recommendations can be found on the city website.