PONTIAC (WWJ) Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald has established a crime commission of experts aimed at preventing gun violence.
"The commission is going to focus on developing the protocol for schools, businesses, community entities to implement," McDonald told WWJ's Charlie Langton.
McDonald said the Crime Commission has eight months to use "a data-driven approach" to develop written protocol for schools and businesses to follow, according to an Oakland County press release.
County officials said the Crime Commission will be asked to "scrutinize" the threat assessment in Oakland County, investigate and provide prevention recommendations, and develop a model for both children and adults to identify individuals in crisis.
The group will also examine how to prevent shootings statewide, according to the release.
McDonald told WWJ the approximately two-dozen-person commission is made up of people who have devoted their careers to studying gun violence prevention and patterns or those who have been touched by it: "We have psychologists, we have threat assessment experts, we have Nicole Hockley who developed the Sandy Hook Promise when her son was tragically killed in the school shooting. We have an expert in gang-related violence because we're not just talking about mass shootings…"
"…The goal here is to inform the public," McDonald said.
Data provided by Oakland County said approximately 40,000 people die each year from gun violence nationwide, and a mass shooting has occurred somewhere in the country every week this year.
McDonald came up with the plan for the Crime Commission following the mass shooting at Oxford High School on November 30, 2021. Four students, ranging in age from 14 to 17, lost their lives as a result: Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling, and Hana St. Juliana.
