In June of 2021, the GVIT workgroups identified strategic priorities that would best match the county’s resources with areas of identified need. The GVIT focused on these priorities through 2021 and into early 2022, working collectively to achieve these goals.
Data Workgroup
Created and published a monthly data report of gun violence data for Anne Arundel County.
A thorough understanding of gun violence in our local community is the foundation for the GVIT’s decisions and actions. Recognizing the many forms of gun-related crimes, injuries, and fatalities that involve a complex mix of considerations, the GVIT has pulled together local data sources to clarify what gun violence looks like in Anne Arundel County.
The data workgroup, in collaboration with the police departments, Department of Health, and ArundelStat team, developed and released a data dashboard and monthly gun fatalities snapshot dashboard. The purpose of these dashboards is to provide insights about what types of gun violence are happening in our county, where there are concentrations of gun violence incidents, which populations are disproportionately affected and what other contributing factors are involved.
There are several sources that the GVIT uses for its data. Both Anne Arundel County and Annapolis City Police Departments report on gun incidents including homicides, suicides, contact shootings, and other crimes. The Department of Health pulls Vital Statistic Administration (VSA) death certificate data on homicides and suicides, and Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) hospital data on gun-related inpatient admissions and emergency department visits.
Environment Workgroup
Developed and implemented a public awareness campaign about gun safe storage to prevent gun violence.
The county has a robust network of crisis and emergency response teams with comprehensive protocols for responding to violent incidents. Recognizing that the impacts of gun violence are far-reaching, affecting victims and the many individuals around them including family members, friends, neighbors and colleagues, the environment workgroup coordinated with agency leaders to identify the partners involved in the recovery and response of gun violence incidents, connecting residents in crisis more quickly to appropriate resources and support.
The environment workgroup has also identified opportunities for dissemination of the coalition’s resource toolkits and other public awareness resources. This outreach includes collaboration and discussions with county constituents at the coalition’s community meetings. To date, the coalition hosted meetings in winter, summer and fall of 2021 and spring and summer of 2022.
Community meeting slide deck and discussion highlights.
Education and Policy Workgroup
Developed and implemented a public awareness campaign about gun safe storage to prevent gun violence.
The education and policy workgroup released four toolkits between fall 2021 and spring 2022. These materials seek to raise awareness about gun safety with preventative resources about key gun violence topics including gun suicides, youth gun safety, gun-related domestic violence and gun ownership.
To overcome issues of accessibility and ensure that county residents can adopt the practices recommended in the toolkits, the workgroup has promoted gun lock distribution to all community members. City and county police both have cable locks available for household use and community members can pick up a lock and safe storage information at local library branches.