Tom Perumean
Homicides saw a 43% increase in Harris County between 2018 and 2022.
At the two-day National Violence Prevention Conference at NRG Center, Harris County Health Department Executive Director Barbie Robinson joined with violence prevention advocates to get the word out on what the County is doing to stop gun violence.
Working with $25 million from the Harris County Commissioners Court, the Health Department set upon looking at different models to address violence prevention and expanding public safety.
“We know that law enforcement can’t be all things to everyone,” said Barbie Robinson. “With that, Harris County Public Health was directed to create the Division of Community of Public Health and Violence Prevention, that houses our two programs.”
Robinson is talking about HART and RISE. HART is the Holistic Assistance Response Team.
Robinson describes HART as an alternative response model to 911 calls for people in distress. HART teams respond to non-violent calls in the community. In its pilot year, HART was predicted to respond to 750 calls. It ended up responding to more than 2,000 calls.
The other program is RISE: the Relentless Interrupters Serving Everyone.
“That program is designed where we have individuals with lived experience,” Robinson said. “[They’re] going into the community, going into Sunnyside as well as Cypress Station and working with individuals who are likely to be victims or perpetrators in the community and working to disrupt and prevent incidents of violence.”
Robinson says RISE has engaged with more than 7,500 residents in the two communities since March.
Robinson points out that gun violence is not just an emotional trauma visited upon victims and their families, there is also a dollar figure.
“Every incidence of gun violence in our community costs approximately $273,000. Based on the work that we’ve done we were able to disrupt and prevent 51 incidents of gun violence in Harris County,” Robinson explains. “The program has saved our community approximately $13.9, almost $14 million.”
The programs work with residents and businesses “To build community trust and goodwill as we expand this program.”
“Because part of what we’re trying to do is not just disrupt incidents of violence,” Robinson said. “But also create a safer, healthier community, where there is trust between our program staff as well as community members.”