BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – The Baton Rouge Street Team is compromised of residents who are undergoing training with the goal of addressing local violence through conflict de-escalation and guiding individuals in crisis to available resources.
Sharon Weston Broome
According to the mayor’s office, “the Baton Rouge Street Team is a community-based public safety model partnering with Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome’s Safe Hopeful Healthy BR Initiative.”
A well known interventionist named Aqeela Sherrills is providing training and technical assistance.
Along with Sherrills, the founder of the Professional Community Intervention Training Institute, Dr. Aquil Basheer will also assist with training.
The initiative coordinator is Sateria Tate, founder of AGILE Planning Solutions.
“Our community is at a cross roads when it comes to addressing violence – community partnerships are essential in our path to peace. The Baton Rouge Street Team will utilize relationship-based strategies to intervene, prevent, and mediate conflicts to a peaceful resolution,” said Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome.
The pilot program in Baton Rouge will be focused on the 70802 and 70805 zip codes starting this summer.
The Baton Rouge Street Team will be made up of:
- Five High-Risk Interventionists
- Four Community Navigators
- One Program Coordinator
“Law enforcement is always working to proactively address violence in our community, but the most effective method is to empower our residents to address the underlying factors before violence occurs. I’m confident the Baton Rouge Street Team will be a strong partner in our mission to create a more peaceful community,” said BRPD Chief Murphy Paul.
