Durham Gets Serious About Guns

To some local officials, it is unthinkable to publicly acknowledge a city is plagued by gun and gang violence. But in Durham, that’s exactly what District Attorney Jim Hardin did when he applied for and received a U.S. Department of Justice grant to hire a prosecutor specializing in getting gun-toting criminals off Durham’s streets.

“Durham hasn’t been shy about exposing this issue, as other communities have,” Hardin said. He hopes the three-year, $120,000 federal grant, coupled with $30,000 in matching funds from the city and Durham County, will reduce Durham’s gun-related crimes. Durham is one of only a few cities to receive the funding. The gun prosecutor began work earlier this year. His felony caseload will include an array of crimes including assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, and shooting into occupied property.

In 2003, more than half the city’s 22 homicides involved firearms, as did 85 percent of armed robberies and more than 40 percent of aggravated assaults. In the first six months of 2004, 13 homicides were committed with firearms, 293 handguns were seized, and police received 1,170 calls for service because of shots fired.

The targeted effort by the district attorney’s office is one element of Durham’s broader Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. Championed by the Bush administration and coordinated through U.S. attorneys offices around the country, PSN aims to enforce existing gun laws by vigorously prosecuting gun crime, and to prevent them from occurring by tracking and using data on weapons, crimes, and criminals. Partnerships between law enforcement and community and faith-based groups are also integral to the $900 million effort.

Gun-related crackdowns get the attention of gun-rights advocates. The North Carolina Rifle and Pistol Association, the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association, monitors PSN programs around the state. Russ Parker, NCRPA president, thinks PSN is generally on the right track by prosecuting criminals and promoting gun safety.

“We like it because it doesn’t implement any new laws,” Parker said. But he is wary that two things may occur: “overzealous prosecution” of citizens, and expansion of gun safety into an anti-gun message. “That can be perverted into guns being evil.”

In the middle district of North Carolina’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, the cities of Durham, Winston-Salem, High Point, Salisbury, and Greensboro participate in PSN. However, Durham’s approach is unique and comprehensive, according to Dr. Jim Frabutt of UNC-Greensboro’s Center for Youth, Family and Community Partnerships, who acts as Durham’s research partner. So unique, he said, that other cities should use it as a model. He’s writing a best-practices analysis on Durham to prove his point.

Part of what’s different is Durham’s pledge of local resources to beef up more than $250,000 in federal funds it has received. Other cities look to their U.S. Attorney’s Office as the project leader, but Durham’s police department created a full-time, non-sworn position to act as its own PSN coordinator. The job was originally funded by a grant, but the city is picking up financial responsibility when federal dollars end.

Frabutt thinks the hiring commitment is key to ensuring that Durham’s intense focus on gun crime is long-term, something he can’t say about other cities. “No one has made the commitment Durham has. We haven’t seen anybody else do that yet,” Frabutt said. A part-time analyst is also on board to track crime data. Every weapon seized by police is traced and test fired and the information is entered into a national ballistics database. Rob Faggart, PSN coordinator, said Durham leads the state in recovering guns that are identified has having been used in a crime somewhere else.

But it’s Durham’s own PSN database that contains a gold mine of information from which law enforcement determines gun-crime patterns, anticipates where and when illegal guns may be found, and determines key players in criminal activity.

Hardin noted that several years ago, a review showed a recurring overlap between gun-crime perpetrators, victims, and witnesses. For example, he said, a gang member might be shot, and then another gang member might retaliate with a second shooting. Often, the victims and witnesses won’t tell police what they know. Consequently, Hardin’s gun prosecutor coordinates closely with his gang prosecutor.

Sharing of information is key when representatives of the police department, Hardin’s office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office review gun arrests each month. They decide where the toughest punishment can be meted out, based on differences in federal and state laws. Hardin said the goal is to send “the worst of the worst” to the U.S. attorney for prosecution, where those convicted under stricter federal law can receive harsher sentences.

The opposite end of the criminal path gets attention as well. Four times a year, the Criminal Justice Resource Center sends 10 to 20 men and women leaving prison on probation or parole to a PSN meeting dubbed Strategies to Abate and Reduce Senseless Violence.

Those funneled into the program are repeat offenders, people with felony convictions, and those with a history of using guns or carrying illegal weapons.

The mission of STARS is to reduce the number who commit crimes again by offering a coordinated message of tough expectations and generous help as they transition back into free society. Law-enforcement officials deliver hard-hitting advice about staying out of trouble and away from old habits and contacts. “They pretty much hammer these guys with this message,” Faggart said. “You’d better listen to these folks, because you’re going to be under a microscope.”

Help comes in the form of job training, life-skills development, assistance obtaining a GED, and even simple friendship. Marcia Owen, outreach coordinator for the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham, said her group has four teams that offer a one-year “covenant relationship” with those on post-release supervision.

“It’s extremely rewarding,” Owen said. But while optimistic, she’s already faced the limitations of her work. The first person the team worked with made it through post-release but began using drugs and was arrested for having stolen goods. “Every person on the team felt terrible; we were in tears,” Owens said. Team members visit the man in jail and will be with him during trial.

Preventing Durham children from turning to crime in the first place is why Bill Hayes is a new member of the PSN effort. As North Carolina Central University’s athletics director, he’s working with Faggart to deploy NCCU’s 250 student-athletes into Dur-ham as mentors and tutors. Kids will also come to NCCU for life lessons and role models. Hayes wants them to attend team practices and study hall so they see and learn discipline and respect.

PSN’s concept isn’t new to Hayes. He spent nearly 15 years as football coach at NCA&T before coming to Durham. While in the Greensboro-High Point area, he teamed his athletes with neighborhood children and he predicts some of his NCCU athletes will see themselves in the faces they’re trying to help. “Many of them have been in this situation themselves — one step away from gangs, violence, and prison,” he said.

Despite the good intentions of public-private partnerships like PSN, Parker hopes citizens don’t become complacent. “You’ve always got to keep your eye on the government,” he said.

DONNA MARTINEZ IS ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF CAROLINA JOURNAL.