Many communities worldwide are confronted by unacceptable levels of crime and violence on their streets. Typically, a disproportionate amount of this violence is the result of young males killing other young males. In the United States, homicide is the second leading cause of death for all males 15–24 years old. For African American males, homicide is the leading cause of death among those 10–24 years old. This means we are seeing a generation of young men die every day. This is simply unacceptable, which is why I have chosen to focus on reducing street violence and crime as one of my initiatives during my time as president of the IACP.

In order to reduce violent crime in our communities, it is imperative that we work with our partners in the criminal justice system to reduce the level of violence through an array of proven approaches. These range from early intervention to aggressive enforcement and prosecution to enhanced penalties for those that commit crimes with a firearm. Our efforts need to be community-wide in order to reduce violence and to not cease after a police surge on a targeted area is complete. In order to successfully reduce violence in our communities, we need our efforts to be long term and have community-wide support from community advocates and faith-based advocates, along with the implementation of support programs.