NEW HAVEN, CONN.(WTIC Radio)-To reduce gun violence and other crime, Mayor Justin Elicker has appointed Reuel Parks as the city's first coordinator of the Office of Violence Prevention.
Parks has worked as a clinical therapist, parole officer, social worker and adjunct professor at the University of New Haven.
Mayor Elicker said the position will advance coordinated evidence-based programming across city departments to "keep people safe, alive, out of jail and to thrive."
Elicker said police are still an integral part of the effort, but the city has introduced new programs and increased others to quell the violence.
Parks said his drive comes from fostering change "by engaging the high-risk population in the community through continuous efforts of coordinated services through our committed stakeholders. It will take the collective efforts of parole, probation, police, service providers, child support, employment support and others."
Police Chief Karl Jacobson said a strong structure is already in place, "but we can't do it alone.... This approach is showing that we take gun violence as a public health priority.
New Haven has already recorded three homicides this year.