Mayor Announces New Plan to Reduce Shooting Incidents

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced at his daily briefing today that he will be launching a new effort to stop shootings in the city before they happen. The plan relies on "violence interrupters" - unarmed civilians acting as volunteers as well as church leaders from the area.

Additionally, as the effort begins in Harlem, there will be vastly increased visible NYPD presence at key hotspots in the area. The parks department will also be mobilizing to create positive activities for young people.

Mayor de Blasio said, “We have seen some really tough weekends, particularly last weekend. And particularly in Harlem, we saw way too much violence, and it's not something that's acceptable in the city. We cannot have people live in fear. We cannot have our young people in the crosshairs. It's not something we will allow in this city. We have to do better, and this weekend coming up has to be better, particularly in Harlem, where we're focusing a lot of our efforts to change the reality on the ground.”