Malloy: Curbing Crime in Norwalk Starts With Early Intervention

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy insisted the best way to prevent crime is to work toward preventing it early during a roundtable discussion Monday morning at Norwalk City Hall that focused on addressing urban violence in Norwalk. 

Though children are experiencing more trauma in urban environments, such as deaths of friends and family, Malloy said increasing mentorship can help children cope without turning to crime themselves later in life.

"It's quite clear that early intervention in situations where there's a demonstration of antisocial behavior really leads to the best possible results," Malloy said. "What we have learned is that if we can insert an additional adult into [the life of a child who has experienced trauma] the chances of that child overcoming that trauma and graduating from high school, for instance, increase by 83 percent."

He added that the state has increased funding for local communities that are "facing challenges based on demography," as well as population and unemployment rates.

Malloy also addressed the need to train young people how to be ready for jobs and the topic of how to bring more state funding to youth programs in Norwalk.

Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia also answered questions, putting an emphasis on the importance of school resource officers.

"[The officers are] not there to arrest kids," Moccia said, but to make kids aware of the repercussions of getting involved with crime and joining gangs.

Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik shared Norwalk's recent crime statistics with the community as well. (View the infographic above.) Index crime, a statistic that includes murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, is down 11 percent in Norwalk but is up 3 percent in the state, he said.

Kulhawik also said that Norwalk, which is the sixth largest city in Connecticut, has experienced the greatest reduction in crime. He cited an increased focus on identifying repeat offenders and tracking guns, as well as using federal law enforcement to help process some evidence in order to ensure efficiency, as the reason crime rates have fallen.

One of the most important things to do to prevent crime is to engage the entire community, he said.

"The issue really is communication," Kulwahik said. He added that the community must be told about police task forces so that citizens will understand why officers are making certain arrests and focusing on certain issues.

Many of the funding-related questions Norwalk citizens asked at the discussion come from overall budget restrictions, Malloy and Moccia both said.

Moccia said the reason there are not more school resource officers is that the money isn't available.

"As time goes by and budgets get better, we'll start to amplify that [program] and bring more in," Moccia said.

Malloy said laws addressing mental health care are also being worked on so that the state can better help local governments in times of need.

"We're prepared to be a better partner than perhaps we've been in the past," Malloy said. "In our legislation, we are building better teams to be able to respond to different situations."