Baton Rouge Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden announced the approval of a $1.5 million grant to reduce juvenile violence in the 70805 ZIP code Wednesday. The project, called Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination or BRAVE, aims to implement violence reduction strategies that target juvenile offenders over a three year period in Mid-City. District Attorney Hillar Moore further explained the program during a news conference. “This is a community-based violence prevention program,” Moore explained. “The grant is going to help law enforcement do its job better.” Criminals will be called in to speak with law enforcement once they have been identified as “at risk.” If the offenders continue criminal behavior, they will receive stiff penalties, Moore said. But putting officers on the ground is not the only part of the project. BRAVE will also use data mapping techniques to find high density areas of crime with the help of the University. Sociology Professor Matthew Lee, along with several other departments including the School of Social Work and the Department of Geography and Anthropology, will aid in the data map creation. Lee said the data mapping may be one of the most beneficial parts of the project because it enables BRAVE to see exactly where crime is occurring. In addition, the data will show how communication affects the spread of crime. “Violence does not occur in a vacuum,” Lee said. “There are many influences. We will be able to develop a time trend analysis and even rank the top 10 offenders in the area.” The goal of the project is to foster an environment that prevents crime from happening. Therefore, BRAVE also includes athletic scholarships and case management at The Healing Place Church, said Kelly Bonaventure, juvenile coordinator for the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office. Baton Rouge Chief of Police Dewayne White stressed that the money will not go to waste. “To all the people that don’t think this is going to work, we are going to prove them wrong,” White said. “This project is about getting into the communities and making the area a better place.” Moore added that BRAVE began in response to high homicide rates. “We just want a reduction in shootings,” he said. “If we reduce the bodies on the ground by even ten, then it is a success.”
 
_____ Contact Joshua Bergeron at [email protected]