PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and City Council have announced the launch of a 24-hour Violence Prevention Hotline, and all you have to do is dial 2-1-1.
“Sometimes in government, we figure out a way to make it difficult, so today we’ll make it easy,” Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke at the announcement of the 2-1-1 line.
Staff will support the hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week. People can access it via phone call, text, email or web chat.
Clarke reflected on past public calls that violent crime must be fought on multiple fronts, with help from the community.
“We have to figure out a way to approach this in a broad-based way,” he said. “We talk frequently about all hands in, well this is giving everybody an opportunity to have their hands in this.”
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The new hotline will provide real-time support to people at-risk for engaging in violence, or for those in areas with high rates of gun violence, by providing a safe space for information gathering.
The hotline allows communities to report something if they know something, and get resources to help if needed.
It’s also designed to take some of the stress off of 9-1-1 calls that come on that are not necessarily emergencies.
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“If you need help with conflict intervention or neighborhood crisis mediation, among many there services, call 2-1-1, press option 3 and a trained counselor will help you,” said Kenney.
George Mosee, the executive director of the Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence Network, said that as an example, a parent can call to discuss a child posting gun pics on social media.
“We address the young person, we address the parent, we’ll address the would-be responders, the ones who would go after this kid, this naïve kid who thinks he’s just fitting in by brandishing a firearm on social media,” said Mosee.
Related Jawncast: A dive into how far the effects of gun violence can go, from the case of an 8-year-old who was shot and killed.
Kenney noted that the sporadic issues with 9-1-1 are due largely in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of staff. He added that as more people come back to work, the issue has been subsiding.
“We have all new contracts with our city employees. We think we’ve treated them fairly,” said Kenney.
2-1-1 is fully staffed in partnership with United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.
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