Brief

This Executive Brief, presented to the White House and Congress in January 2017, provides a summary of Reducing Violent Crime in American Cities: An Opportunity to Lead, an examination of the federal role in responding to violent crime in major cities. It provides a high-level overview of the analysis and recommendations described with significantly more supporting detail and data in the Full Reducing Violent Crime in American Cities: An Opportunity to Lead Report. The full report reviews detailed data; interview and survey information; and literature regarding violent crime and its drivers. In Chapter 1, the Full Report outlines the increase in localized violent crime in recent years, and provides an overview of the contrast between this increase and the overall decrease of crime nationwide. The Full Report then discusses federal priorities and budgets in Chapter 2; and in Chapter 3, it outlines federal tools brought to bear to assist in the fight against violent crime. Chapter 4 provides a detailed look at the unique position of the U.S. Attorney to convene resources to assist local law enforcement in fighting violent crime. Finally, Chapter 5 reviews ways to address access to firearms by those committing violent crime. Most importantly, each chapter concludes with recommendations to the new Administration and the United States Congress on ways the federal government can best address violent crime in local jurisdictions. The recommendations, extensively driven by the input of the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) members, include prioritization of violent crime and non-traditional approaches, openness and sharing of data, expansion of available technologies, and calls for immediate action in the new Administration and new Congress.