NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WKBW) — There's a new community resource hoping to reduce gun violence in Niagara Falls. SNUG (Guns backwards) is now officially open at 1720 Pine St.
“Through street outreach and involvement in and with the community, we are up to the challenge of doing our part in reducing gun violence in our city," Eric Boerdner, VP, Specialized Services at Community Missions.
Niagara Falls joins Utica as the latest New York communities within the state-supported SNUG network, which includes Albany, the Bronx, Buffalo, Hempstead, Mt. Vernon, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, Rochester, Troy, Wyandanch, and Yonkers.
This is funded by New York State's Division of Criminal Justice, pitching in $500,000 to get things started. This is part of Governor Kathy Hochul's efforts to invest in public safety after violence surged during the pandemic.
"Because in 2019, we know that shooting victims and homicides were at an all time low in New York State, we want to be able to get it back to those numbers," said Damon Bacote, Deputy Commissioner of New York State's Division of Criminal Justice Services Office of Youth Justice.
How does SNUG work?
A team of six people start their day with a daily briefing, tracking crime numbers in Niagara Falls, following up with victims and families. They canvass for two hours in high risk areas, go into schools and to community events.
"Like any disease, they look for a cure. Niagara Falls SNUG will be part of that cure," said Hassan Ford, Program Manager.
They also do what's called a shooting response, by going to the scene and showing the community that violence isn't acceptable in the community.
Is it effective?
State leaders say yes.
Data shows violence was going down in the years before the pandemic in those communities that already have SNUG programs, Bacote points to two reasons why:
- SNUG sees gun violence as a public health emergency
- The people who work at SNUG live in the community
"That's the whole point of SNUG is not just trying to get those invited to the table, but creating the table within the community," said Jacqueline Gray, social worker with SNUG.
In Niagara Falls, the number of shooting incidents and shooting victims has been steadily climbing since 2015, when there were 15 incidents with 15 victims. In 2021, we saw those numbers rise to 46 incidents with 51 victims.
In 2022, victims shot was down about 60%, but it's still above the five year average. SNUG is here to get them below that average.
