Partners: Town of Fairmont Police Department, North Carolina Youth Violence Prevention Center, Colors of Life, LLC
Focus areas: Community Engagement, Personnel, Community Violence Intervention (CVI)
Fairmont, North Carolina is a town of 2,176 near the border with South Carolina. The Fairmont Police Department, with a total staff of just 13, has faced a recent rise in incidents involving juvenile gun violence, burglaries, and drug-related offenses. Fairmont’s overall per capita violent crime rate is triple the statewide rate across North Carolina. The town’s per capita property crime rate also exceeds both the North Carolina state and national rates by a significant margin.
With limited front-line staff, RVCRI grant funding will help the department address capacity concerns while focusing on both intervention and prevention work. The department proposes community violence intervention and prevention efforts that include new programs for youth and families in the community and services for victims of crime. Such programs may include positive youth engagement activities, community-oriented policing, introducing violence interrupters to decrease gang retaliation incidents, and establishing mental health services for victims of crime. To support project administration and implementation, the Fairmont Police Department will partner with the North Carolina Youth Violence Prevention Center. Colors of Life, a nonprofit gang prevention program in Robeson County, will support community outreach and engagement, with a focus on de-escalation of gang conflicts.
RVCRI is an effort funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to assist rural communities seeking to address violent crime.
The DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance is supporting data-driven, comprehensive responses to crime in some of the country’s most troubled communities through BCJI.