Then-Captain Mike Hanifin stood proudly in front of his peers, choked up and fighting back tears. He paused before he uttered two powerful words that resonated with his colleagues and summed up the efforts of Aurora Standing Against Violence Every Day (SAVE) perfectly: “It matters.”
Police officers are expected to remain resolute, but in the heaviness of everything that led up to that day, then-Captain Hanifin – now Commander Hanifin—broke down and exhibited an air of vulnerability because the work that he and others are doing is emotional. It’s life changing. It matters.
One must know the SAVE backstory to fully appreciate what led up to that moment in May 2024 at a SAVE Governing Board meeting, where Commander Hanifin was presenting a quarterly update. One must understand the many complexities involved in SAVE, and how the Colorado city located next to Denver is putting its own unique touches on a proven method in an attempt to curb youth violence … gun violence, specifically.
The issue of youth gun violence is not unique to Aurora, its surrounding communities, or even Colorado for that matter. It’s becoming an epidemic in many major cities around the United States. A 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics shows that the rates of violent death are up among U.S. youth, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaths due to suicide and homicide, often referred to collectively as violent deaths, have been a leading cause of premature death to people ages 1–19 in the United States, and the number is trending upward.1 Guns are frequently ending up in the hands of teenagers and young adults, with horrific consequences.
Violence, in all its forms, leaves a lasting imprint on communities, families, and individuals. This is particularly true when it comes to youth violence. Whether it manifests as physical harm, emotional abuse, or psychological trauma, violence tends to erode the foundation of trust and safety that communities rely upon.
SAVE Origins
Recognizing the rising trend of youth violence and the impacts on their community, Aurora city leaders seized an opportunity to work with federal partners to confront the issue head-on. SAVE was established through the city of Aurora’s Public Safety Partnership (PSP), part of the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2021, the city of Aurora was selected as one of 10 sites to participate in the PSP with the goal of enhancing its capacity to reduce violent crime and enhance safety in the community. It was through the PSP that Aurora became aware of focused deterrence as a proven, successful violent crime reduction strategy.
With the funding and support in place to move forward, the city needed a trusted consultant—an entity with the expertise to help it come up with a plan. Enter the National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. NNSC works with partners in communities and policing to develop and implement the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) strategy.2 NNSC strategies have been successful in more than 60 cities — including Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Nashville, Tennessee; and Providence, Rhode Island — over almost 20 years. The city of Aurora is the first Colorado city to implement GVI with the NNSC.
It took several months of conversations and planning with PSP and NNSC partners, but in the fall of 2023, the city officially launched its SAVE strategy. SAVE represents a holistic approach to addressing violence in the city, providing resources, education, and support to create a safer, more resilient community.
Aurora SAVE utilizes a proven model that has repeatedly demonstrated how cities can dramatically reduce violence when community members and law enforcement collaborate directly with key leaders of active, violent street groups.
SAVE is a focused deterrence strategy and a collaboration between the Aurora Police Department (APD), the Youth Violence Prevention Program (YVPP), and community partners with strong support from Aurora leaders. Focused deterrence is an effort to intervene with high-risk groups and individuals to prevent future crimes.
“In the time we have worked with Aurora SAVE, we have continued to be impressed by the thoughtful intentionality and expediency with which they have launched this strategy,” said Isabel Lopez, deputy director of strategies and interventions for NNSC. “We are proud to be a partner and look forward to their continued success.”3
Identifying the Problem
NNSC recently released the Aurora, Colorado Group Violence Intervention Problem Analysis Report in July 2023.4 The report findings are consistent with those in cities across the United States, where identified groups typically account for half of all serious incidents of violence.
Other key findings in Aurora shed important light on the nature of the problem. Violence in the city involves a mix of juveniles, young adults, and adults. While the narratives around youth violence are often overstated, the findings in Aurora suggest that outreach to juveniles should be an important component of the intervention.
NNSC conducted a violent incident review, in which police personnel reviewed 93 homicides and nonfatal shooting incidents from 2022 through 2023. This review confirmed that at least 36 percent of homicides and 28 percent of nonfatal shootings involved violent group members as suspected perpetrators, known victims, or both.
Overall, these findings are consistent with those in cities across the United States, where groups (i.e., gangs) typically drive up to half of all serious violence. The problem analysis highlighted the need to operationalize street-level intelligence and to use it to track the involvement of street groups in serious violence. NNSC recommended that APD and its partners deploy weekly reviews of shootings to assess homicides and nonfatal shootings.
Aurora’s Solution
Specific groups and group members in Aurora are involved in a very significant proportion of violence; as such, there is a significant opportunity to reduce serious violence through GVI. SAVE is modeled after the GVI strategy that focuses on the groups in a community at the highest risk for violent victimization and offending, with the intention of keeping individuals alive, safe, and free.
The GVI model is rooted in focused deterrence crime prevention, which deters specific problematic behavior by understanding the underlying dynamics and conditions that sustain that behavior; identifying the individuals and groups most frequently engaged in that behavior; and responding to this small population with a blend of direct communication, community engagement, support and services, and strategic enforcement measures.
Custom Notifications
The foundation of Aurora SAVE is a custom notification: quick, direct communication to group members. Members of APD and YVPP partner with JusticeWorks YouthCare and community groups such as The Road Called Strate and the Struggle of Love Foundation to literally knock on doors with the goal of helping young people in the community who are most at risk for violence.
As of September 2024, the SAVE Law Enforcement Working Group has selected 111 recipients for custom notifications and contacted 87 of those individuals. Custom notifications provide contacts with access to services such as job training, housing, education, peer support groups, and substance abuse counseling. The average age of custom notification candidates is 17. There have been low rates of violence among SAVE participants so far.
“We meet with youth we’ve identified through different analyses who might be at risk of being a victim or an offender or someone who causes harm and we engage with them,” said Lisa Battan, intervention programs manager for the city of Aurora and the Aurora SAVE program manager. “We ask them what kind of support do they need, and what support does the family need? We want to take an intergenerational approach that will speak to our longer-term success.”5
“We know that focusing only on incarceration and arrest is not the answer,” Commander Hanifin said. “It is our goal to try to get ahead of it and do intervention on the front end because this strategy is all about the double message of empathy, we’ll help if you let us—and accountability, we’ll stop you if you make us.”6
Commander Hanifin, Battan, and the program partners have seen mothers cry, dads become emotional, and guardians and siblings express their appreciation for a softer approach that at its core is meant to get someone out of a tough situation, if they are willing. Unreliable addresses and the fact that custom notification candidates tend to be transient mean that, inevitably, some candidates will not be reached. Custom notification candidates, whether physical contact is made or not, also receive a letter signed by the APD chief of police. The letter is customized toward the recipient, but generally outlines the resources that are available, as well as the legal risks they face should they commit acts of violence in the community.
Remember those tears at the beginning of this article? Commander Hanifin became choked up as he gave an update to the SAVE Governing Board? The story he told that day was of a 19-year-old man (who will remain anonymous here for safety reasons) who initially was skeptical of the assistance that SAVE was offering. He had a history of violence—in fact, he had been shot three times. But he simply didn’t trust the police. Commander Hanifin and the team left the custom notification conversation thinking they had probably not left the type of lasting impression they had hoped to. However, the man thought about it more, read the letter, and ultimately left a voicemail message that was waiting for Commander Hanifin the next day. The man had a baby daughter on the way and wanted to change his life and accept the offramp. The man has since relocated and started a new life in a new city.
As Commander Hanifin said, it matters.
“Even if they choose to not participate initially, we don’t give up on them,” he said. “Our support and outreach colleagues stay engaged with them and circle back to see where they are at.”
Call-Ins
Another component of the strategy is known as a call-in, which is a face-to-face meeting between group members and SAVE partners. The city’s first group call-in was held on January 31, 2024. Police and strategy partners came together to profess to the lone 20-year-old participant who mustered the strength to listen that he had a great opportunity to make better choices.
Three “voices” from the community told him their stories, providing personal examples of what can happen if one chooses a path of violence. They represented voices of pain, redemption, and aspiration. NNSC later referred to the gathering as “one of the most powerful call-ins we’ve experienced in several years.” SAVE is working with the local district attorneys to implement stronger conditions of parole to ensure that the next call-in has more participants.
In the last two years, city staff associated with the SAVE initiative have visited several U.S. cities to learn more about their GVI initiatives, including Albany, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Indianapolis, Indiana; Jacksonville, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Washington, DC. A trip to meet with leaders in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is in the works.
And other cities and regions are looking at Aurora SAVE as a model of excellence, particularly how quickly and efficiently the initiative became operational. Colorado cities such as Denver and Pueblo have looked at Aurora SAVE, as well as Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Leaders in Vallejo, California, are considering a similar model as well.
Looking Ahead
Todd Chamberlain, a few months into his tenure as the chief of police of APD, is a firm believer in the importance of combating youth violence. His strategic plan for the agency focuses on addressing youth violence by preventing young people from becoming either victims or perpetrators.
I want to change the trajectories of their lives. The first thing I’m going to do is strategically examine the issues we’re facing. We will take evidence-based approaches to identify where crimes are happening, who is committing them, who is being victimized, and their ages. From there, we’ll focus on intervention and prevention strategies to stop this cycle, including efforts within the school environment.”7
Chief Chamberlain brings significant experience with the GVI model from his time in Los Angeles. Guided by the NNSC, he implemented GVI at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 2014. Alongside community partners, he deployed custom notifications and organized call-ins—efforts he refers to as “Operation Ceasefires.” Now, Chief Chamberlain looks forward to continuing his involvement with APD’s program and elevating the mission of Aurora SAVE.
It’s a fair question: Has the SAVE program made significant strides in reducing youth violence across Aurora?
“Anecdotally, yes. We are getting closer to collecting the data to back that statement, but we aren’t quite there yet,” Battan said. “Long-term strategies like these fundamentally need a longer period of assessment. We have a few success stories so far, but for any type of social research, it’s imperative that we take a longer view.”
You’ll often hear the mantra, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” thrown around when it comes to any GVI strategy, especially one as new as Aurora’s. That’s why the city has contracted with Dr. David Pyrooz and a research team from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Pyrooz will continue to look at the relevant data and do a deep dive. Battan said the city hopes to have more tangible data by summer 2025 when it can more accurately determine the effectiveness of SAVE and adjust the strategy accordingly.
GVI requires the collaboration of regional partners committed to the approach. The SAVE Governing Board includes Aurora City Council members Angela Lawson and Ruben Medina, as well as other city leaders, and held its third meeting in October 2024. The governing board also includes representatives from the following groups and organizations:
- 17th and 18th Judicial District Attorneys Offices and Probation
- A1 Boxing
- Adams County Public Health
- Arapahoe County Magistrate
- Arapahoe County Public Health
- Aurora Mental Health Center
- Aurora Public Schools
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
- Cherry Creek School District
- Colorado Department of Corrections
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- State Parole
- U.S. Attorney’s Office
- University of Colorado Hospital
While SAVE has already achieved a great deal of success, the program is committed to expanding its reach and impact in the coming months and years.
By standing against violence every day, Aurora is striving to make its streets safer today while paving the way for a more peaceful future for generations to come.
“Youth violence is a major issue across the country [United States],” Battan said. “Having to do a death notification to a parent of a juvenile is excruciating, and I’ve done too many to count. This strategy is an effort to stop those types of notifications from happening.”
In other words, Aurora SAVE and its many associates are striving for happy tears—like the ones that came from Commander Hanifin on that May afternoon at Aurora’s Central Recreation Center. After all, the alternative would be tears of anger, sadness, or frustration, the type that result far too often when a victim’s family and friends are notified of yet another senseless act of gun violence. d
Notes:
1Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, “Continuing Trends: Five Key Takeaways from the 2023 CDC Provisional Gun Violence Data,” September 12, 2024.
2National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College, (NNSC) “Group Violence Intervention.”
3Isabel Lopez (deputy director of strategies and interventions, NNSC) personal communication, October 2024.
4NNSC, Aurora, Colorado Group Violence Intervention Problem Analysis Report (2023).
5Lisa Battan (interventions program manager, City of Aurora, CO) personal communication, October 2024.
6[Captain Hanifin Quotes]Mike Hanifin (commander, Aurora Police Department, CO), personal communication, October 2024.
7[Chief Chamberlain Quotes]Todd Chamberlain (chief of police, Aurora Police Department, CO), personal communication, January 2025.
Please cite as
Ryan Luby, “It Matters: Aurora SAVE,” Police Chief Online, January 22, 2025.