The City of Albuquerque announced in a press release Tuesday, that 14 new members will be joining the city’s Gun Violence Prevention and Intervention Task Force.
Created in October, this task force was signed into existence by Albuquerque Tim Keller and aims to develop a “comprehensive violence reduction strategy from crime fighting, to addressing root causes.
The task force will examine and make recommendations to help address gaps that are seen in the region’s current response to gun violence.
The 14 new members of the task force come from a wide range of agencies, including Children, Youth & Family Services, Bernalillo County Department of Behavioral Health Services, City Council, Adult Probation and Parole, and several other Albuquerque city departments.
The Albuquerque Journal reported in November that as Albuquerque neared 100 total homicides in 2021, that it was estimated that at least 80 of those were fire-arm related.
Since that report by the Journal, the city of Albuquerque and Albuquerque Police Department have reported nine more homicides, according to the 2021 homicides report posted on the city’s crime statistics webpage. This brings Albuquerque’s total homicides in 2021 to 109.
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina acknowledged that gun violence is “fueling crime in our community.”
But hopes that with this new task force taking a comprehensive look at the issue, that both the police department and city can better understand the driving forces that are leading to gun violence, and how to better address it in the future.