In Brockton, Massachusetts, PICO affiliate Brockton Interfaith Community (BIC) held a high-energy town hall meeting with the Mayor and Police Chief last week, calling on them to take specific actions to reduce violence and help residents find jobs in this medium-sized city of 95,000 people located about 30 minutes south of Boston.

Before a packed crowd at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, community members gave testimony about friends and family members who have been killed across the city. They then asked the Mayor and Police Chief to implement a model of violence prevention and intervention similar to what Providence, Rhode Island has used to decrease crime by 34 percent over the past four years. The plan includes community policing and hiring street outreach workers.

BIC leaders also called on the city to pass a local ordinance that would bar the city – and those businesses that have contracts with the city – from discriminating against potential employees because of past criminal offenses. Across Massachusetts, the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) system prevents many former prisoners from reintegrating into society long after they have left prison, preventing them from attaining even the most basic employment. Approximately 400 people each year are released from jail in Brockton, and many of them turn to the streets because of their inability to find work.

The Mayor and Police Chief supported BIC's proposals, promising to hire street outreach workers, begin opening police substations in neighborhoods, and to support an ordinance to reform how the city performs CORI checks.

Media Coverage

Focus is on ending violence
Anticrime program is topic in Brockton