Fayetteville Today

The City of Fayetteville recently hosted a Public Safety Summit at Fayetteville State University’s Rudolph Jones Student Center, seeking resident feedback to ensure that their needs are adequately addressed. The city has provided a link on its website for residents to provide feedback about the summit and the Office of Community Safety (OCS).

The three-hour event, which can be viewed on the city's official YouTube channel, featured numerous city and county agencies, participants, and partners who were able to provide valuable input and guidance. Dr. Gerard Tate, Executive Director of the North Carolina Office of Violence Prevention, facilitated discussions around the four pillars of the OCS: violent crime intervention, youth intervention, mental health response, and homelessness. Capt. James Jones, Nichelle Gaines, David Curtis and Devon Newton served as co-facilitators.

Dr. Jennifer Green, Cumberland County Health Director, initiated the summit with a presentation about the current situation in Cumberland County. "We want to take a data-informed approach," said Tate following Green’s presentation.

The summit aimed to bring together local and state-level subject matter experts to identify existing community initiatives and pinpoint areas where additional services are needed. It also supported the city's development of an OCS.

"You saw a lot of data about what’s happening, who it’s happening with, who are those at the highest risk and disproportionately affected by a number of different harms and injuries," Tate added.

Attendees had an opportunity to submit questions to panelists for each pillar. These panelists discussed service availability, current challenges faced by each area and proposed potential solutions.

This is just one in a series of gatherings planned by the city to ensure community needs are met. Future forums will be explored to support further development of an OCS.