In his first State of the City address, Newport News Mayor Phil Jones said he plans to create a new Office of Community Safety that will help city leaders address the root causes of gun violence.

Jones committed to an ambitious goal of reducing gun violence, primarily homicides, by 15% in the next 18 months during his speech.

"This is my moon shot to you," he told a crowd of about 700 at the Christopher Newport University Freeman Center. "My goal is that we’re going to reduce gun violence, primarily homicides, by 15% over the next 18 months."

Jones plans to include funding for the new office in the upcoming city budget proposal by repurposing money from unfilled staff positions.

"We're able to find the money," he told WHRO after his speech. "This is my top priority."

Newport News partnered with Christopher Newport University’s Center for Crime, Equity, and Justice Research and Policy in 2022 to poll residents about their experiences with crime and what they believe causes crime.

Mental health and paying bills were the top concerns, Jones said.

Newport News awarded 15 organizations a total of $1.37 million dollars this year focused on some of those issues residents said caused violence: food insecurity, providing vocational training and educational opportunities, mental health and conflict resolution.

Jones plans to make other investments including a Violence Prevention Manager to work with young residents on “community resilience.” 

Jones said Newport News will also take inspiration from other communities that have tamped down gun violence by exploring the creation of a hospital-based violence intervention program like one used at the VCU Medical Center in Richmond.

Riverside Regional Medical Center in the city has a limited version of a similar program. Jones said the city is still developing exactly what a larger hospital-based intervention program would look like, but Riverside and Sentara are part of the conversation.

He’s also considering eliminating registration fees for certain recreational registration fees  and creating a Midnight Basketball initiative that will allow kids to play with Jones and other city leaders at night on the weekends.

“The idea is we want to give kids a fun space to experience and to have fun,” Jones said.

“It's really to show the youth that we are, we care about them. We're going to give them safe spaces to live and thrive.”

Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said he's looking forward to having more resources to taking a more holistic approach to addressing crime.

"You have to treat the symptoms of the issues … we’re never going to be able to arrest our way out of a situation," he said. "So I think it's a great opportunity to bring people to the table and talk about other ways that we can address crime, not just law enforcement bearing the brunt of it."

Drew said the city is having a better-than-average start to the year when it comes to incidents of gun violence and is confident they could reach Jones' 15% reduction goal.

“The more people that get involved, the better,” he said. “What we can't do is we can't throw up our hands and say, ‘Well, that's just what we expect here.’ I don't want that.”

This story was updated March 6, 2024 at 8:00 a.m.

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