‘They were coming up to us.’ Fayetteville police and faith team hope to reduce gun violence

In the fall, the Rev. Alfonza McAllister of Rapha Ministries Family Center went out with other faith leaders and members of the Fayetteville Police Department to the Eutaw area, off  Bragg Boulevard.

The neighborhood is one the police had identified as one with high crime, McAllister said. The idea was for the faith leaders to set up at a corner and meet and talk to residents for one week, according to McAllister.

The response from residents of the neighborhood was good, McAllister told me on Friday.

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“They were coming up to us,” he said. 

He added: “No crime talk.” Instead, they talked about residents’ wants and needs and shared community and government resources with them.

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 The church leaders, whose numbers McAllister puts at 12 to 14, prayed with receptive residents.

He said he thought the effort was successful.

“They ended up staying a month,” he said of the Police Department.

The effort is part of Faith in Action, one of many community-based initiatives affiliated with the Police Department, according to Rickelle Harrell, a spokesperson for the department.

She said Police Chief Kimberle Braden and faith leaders are targeting areas of the city struggling with crime, poverty, substance abuse and lower income. The church partners provide resources on-site, she said, including drug screening kits and food packages.

“The hands-on involvement of faith leaders alongside law enforcement demonstrates a unified approach to tackling these complex issues," she said.

Follow-up and after-care in a neighborhood

The church leaders and officers are planning to go deeper, McAllister says. Another team is set to mobilize this spring. 

The second team's goal? Ongoing follow-up with the neighborhoods first visited by the Faith in Action teams.

McAllister said Braden asked him in January if he would lead the committee; the two men talked when the chief and other police officials attended a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration hosted by Rapha, a church on Murchison Road headed by Dr. Teresa McAllister, who is Alphonzo McAllister's wife.

“We are responsible to do follow-up care or after-care” once the first team pulls out, McAllister said.

The second effort grew out of discussions the pastors and team members had as they were leaving the Eutaw area, he said.

“Our concern is, ‘How can we continue to help these people,’” McAllister said.

They will knock on doors, he said. They believe talking to people where they live will give them a better understanding of what services people need and how the city can help, he said.

He said targeted areas in addition to Eutaw include Eastern Boulevard, Southern Avenue, the Bonnie Doone area in north Fayetteville and Old Cameron Terrace.

“We’re not waiting for them to come to us,” he said. “We’re going to them.” 

‘I've seen people killed for less’

One goal of these community engagement teams is to reduce violence. 

Fayetteville and other metros across the country have struggled with a higher murder rate since the COVID-19 pandemic, though the murder rate fell nationally last year with all crime. We should remember, too, that crime, including violent crime, continues a steady trend downward that started decades ago — even as news coverage sky-rocketed.

Meanwhile, gun deaths more often than not, result from interpersonal disputes that police officers can know nothing about. A Cumberland County man recently accused of killing two people allegedly was angered over his mom’s comments about her iPad being pawned, police state. 

Another man was recently arrested in Fayetteville on a warrant for an alleged murder in California; the search for him was covered on the rebooted “America’s Most Wanted” TV show. The initial dispute, according to witnesses, may have been because someone accused someone else of having a fake watch.

“I have a hard time believing it was so petty, but I've seen people killed for less,”  said a detective interviewed on the show.

“Killed for less.” 

The sad words resonate and also show that law enforcement’s ability to deal with violence is limited and can only ever be one part of an overall solution.

That is one reason I support a robust Office of Community Safety, the creation of which is currently in limbo in the city, that would be another kind of team that would deploy in certain emergencies and that comprises mental health workers, counselors, social workers and others who — like police officers — deal with people in crisis. 

Spokesman: FPD has proactive approach to fight youth violence

Harrell, the police spokesperson, said the department takes a “proactive and progressive approach” to combat youth violence.

She cited: 

• The Fayetteville Police Activities League, which offers programs and sports activities tailored for youth: “PAL serves as a platform for positive engagement and mentorship, helping to steer young individuals away from negative influences,” she said.

• Educating Kids About Gun Violence, which facilitates “crucial conversations” about violent crime and gun crime among youth.

Events like ‘Stop the Bleeding Your Life: Easy Choices/Hard Consequences,’ include realistic gun trauma simulations; discussions about gun violence prevention; Stop the Bleed wound training, and information about medical and government job opportunities.

“We had our first Stop the Bleeding event last November and our next event is set to happen in just a few months,” Harrell said.

‘I think that’ll be good’

Figuring out a neighborhood is one way police officers can help, like the efforts of Faith In Action. One way of identifying, hopefully, beforehand, some simmering dispute and head off what can be headed off.

The Police Department also runs the longtime gun-violence awareness program, Operation Ceasefire, which runs popular, outdoor movie nights in different neighborhoods, and also works closely with willing neighborhood and community watches.

I asked Tiffany Campbell, a counselor and gun violence awareness activist, her thoughts on the faith leaders and police officers' plan to follow through with residents and she said: “I think that’ll be good.” 

She said the efforts can help spread awareness about gun safety to youth as well as young adults.

“You don’t know who actually talks to people,” she said. “A lot of these kids don’t have this information … We can’t assume.

“They don’t know about gun violence — they know the overall, but they don’t necessarily know about guns; they don’t know safety. A lot of times they are caught in situations, they don’t have the coping skills to do anything else, and they don’t have an outlet.” 

Work to do

Campbell is the founder of the annual Guns Down, Families Up, an anti-violence event scheduled for June, which is Gun Violence Awareness Month. She puts together other community and family-focused events, too, including Sneaker Balls and photo shoots for 100 Professional Black Women in Black and 100 Professional Black men in Black.

Campbell however said the Police Department still has work to do in addressing violence, saying she could not cite a certain program she believes makes a dent in reducing violence.

“I’ve seen them present, which I think is a good start,” she said. “But I don’t think anything has been created that is actually making a significant difference. I think it’s always just figuring it out.”

Beyond that, she believes the focus on gun violence is too narrow. 

“As a whole, we need to stop trying to focus in on a particular group,” she said. “I think a lot of times it’s like, ‘oh, kids and guns’ or ‘this race and guns.’ 

“The suicide rates are extremely high. We look at gun violence as one particular act but gun violence includes domestic violence — it includes a lot of things. So, we don’t need to focus on one particular area. We need to cover it all.”

Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.