Voices from West Harlem: Trust in Law Enforcement, Community Cohesion & Personal Resilience
By Aimee McPhail, Research Associate
After large-scale law enforcement intervention in 2014 left the community disrupted and traumatized, the West Harlem Community Reentry and Restoration Project (WHCRRP) sought to support the people directly impacted as well as the community at large. A recent evaluation of the program found participants felt a lack of trust in law enforcement, but that community members felt resilient, and that the WHCRRP was helping people rebuild.
In response to high levels of violence in and around two New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), Grant and Manhattanville housing developments in West Harlem, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrested 103 men between the ages of 15 and 37 years old in June of 2014. The law enforcement intervention (LEI) led to the largest gang violence prosecution in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s history, with most of the people charged serving jail or prison time.
The LEI strained tensions with the community, as the young people arrested had varying levels of involvement in the violence—some more central and others less so. This had far-reaching impacts on both those arrested and their families, friends, and the community at large, as well as eroded trust in law enforcement.
The Manhattan DA created The West Harlem Community Reentry and Restoration Project (WHCRRP) through its Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII) in an effort to address the LEI’s impact on the community and those arrested, and to keep violence down. Specifically, the WHCCRP sought to promote healing and reconciliation among community members and between the community and law enforcement. Operating in partnership with Osborne Association and the Tayshana “Chicken” Murphy Foundation (TCMF), the WHCRRP aimed to support community members who had recently returned from incarceration and strengthen the capacity for local community-based organizations to provide services and support violence prevention. Services were provided to those in the Grant and Manhattanville Houses using a three-pronged approach: (1) credible messenger[1] mentoring; (2) restorative justice[2]; and (3) a capacity-building incubator for local organizations.
Through CJII, Research Triangle Institute (RTI) conducted a final evaluation report to assess the impact of the LEI on participants’ attitudes toward law enforcement, as well as the relationship between the WHCRRP program and participants’ sense of belonging in the community.
Participants Had Lingering Feelings of Police Distrust
The LEI led to many unintended, negative consequences for the community despite the homicide rate and non-fatal shooting rate in the area decreasing in the four years following the intervention.[3] The intervention was perceived to be unnecessarily traumatic; the immediate removal of the 103 men who were charged, and ultimately incarcerated, disrupted the lives of those arrested, their families, and for the larger community.
When asked about how they view police involvement in the community and the impact of the 2014 LEI, most of the impacted men who were surveyed relayed deep distrust for law enforcement. They felt that the LEI was evidence that, at least at the time, the police officers targeted these men unfairly in the name of safety. Speaking on their experience with the LEI, one of them described:
“They just snatched us from the street with no remorse as to what was going on. They didn’t care about who did what. They just figured, ‘Oh, you [are] hanging out with him. [You’ve] got to go too.’… A lot of people that [were not] involved lost time out of their lives because of assumptions. It was just a disaster… We [were] people’s sons, grandsons. We had people to take care of, people we had to look after. It was a lot.”
Many of the LEI individuals interviewed similarly reported that the intervention had a negative impact on the community at large. As one person explained, “It broke up a lot of family homes. It shook the community up because of the things that they were saying and how they were trying to label us.” Overall, participants’ experiences painted both a lack of trust in law enforcement and a feeling that community voices were disregarded in favor of the narrative put forth by law enforcement.
Community Belonging and Engagement Varied Among Program Participants
To understand program participants’ views on their community, RTI asked participants about their opinions on West Harlem and whether they felt they belonged. Some participants described a close-knit community of neighbors who are willing to take care of one another. As one participant expressed,
“If something happens that affects one person in the community, everybody gets together as a whole to see what the problem [is], and [they] try to solve the problem.”
Several of the participants noted the program had encouraged them to look out for others, which served to enhance community belonging. For example, if someone in the community was engaging in behaviors like vandalism or stealing, community members were now viewing it as their responsibility to speak up against those actions.
However, few participants shared that tensions still persist between the Grant and Manhattanville housing areas, and that the community can resemble high school, “where everybody has their cliques.”
Connection to Services and Strong Personal Resilience Were Critical for Reentry
To better understand the reentry experiences of those incarcerated as part of the LEI, participants in focus groups were asked about their connections to services and personal resilience. Most reported receiving assistance from WHCRRP related to employment, housing, healthcare, finances, as well as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA training). Among focus group participants, several identified the need for additional service offerings (e.g., childcare, youth programming, document assistance). At the same time, many praised the program and its Credible Messengers for providing guidance and support in helping participants get connected to these services. A participant who was arrested as a result of the LEI and returned to the community shared:
“Without this project, a lot of people probably would’ve been lost. Because like I said, reentering into society is hard. So, when you don’t have the proper resources to obtain everything that you need, it gets aggravating, and people start converting back to what they know.... They help you basically do everything. You just got to stick with them.”
In addition to practical resources, personal resilience can be key to successful reentry, especially as individuals returning to communities following incarceration face a number of hurdles. Most of the participants surveyed agreed or strongly agreed with statements about their ability to bounce back after hard times, their ability to adapt when changes occur in their life, and their ability to recover from stress. These findings suggest that these program participants have generally positive perceptions of their resilience during reentry.
About the Program and Evaluation
Although the WHCRRP has formally ended, Osborne and TCMF continue to work in West Harlem to reduce violence.
This blog accompanies the Research Triangle Institute’s (RTI) final evaluation report of WHCRRP, drawing from its outcome evaluation findings. See also RTI’s interim evaluation report.
About the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII) focuses on three investment areas—crime prevention, reentry and diversion, and supports for survivors of crime. The WHCRRP is part of the CJII’s investments in diversion and reentry.
The CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance manages and provides technical assistance to CJII contractors, and conducts oversight and performance measurement throughout the lifetime of the initiative.
[1] Credible Messengers have relevant lived experience, such as prior criminal legal system involvement, and have since endured a positive transformation in their own lives.
[2] Restorative Justice is a model which seeks to bring reconciliation and healing for victims, the offender(s), and the communities in which they live.
[3] Information gathered by the Crime Strategies Unit. Provided by DANY to ISLG on January 3, 2019
Image by Tom Dillon on Unsplash.