Omaha police chief on city’s decline in gun violence

Amidst continuing gun violence nationwide, Omaha, Neb. has seen a steady decline in shootings over the past 15 years. Join Washington Post criminal justice reporter Tom Jackman in conversation with Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer about his city’s strategies to keep communities safe.

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Highlights

“It would be great from a law enforcement perspective if assault rifles were just gone, but you have to be a little bit realistic. They’re out there and you have to try to adjust to whatever the train or the laws are and what the political feel is for your particular city.” – Todd Schmaderer (Video: Washington Post Live)

“We used to average maybe 30, 60, 50 percent, maybe 50 percent average way back, then about last ten years ago we kind turned the tide and all of a sudden the last ten years we’ve averaged an 80 percent clearance rate. ” – Todd Schmaderer (Video: Washington Post Live)

“When we first started doing this… law enforcement’s role was about 80 to 90 percent of what we were doing… We have progressed to a model of about 30, 30, 30. We do about 30 percent enforcement, 30 percent intervention, and 30 percent prevention and that’s really an ideal mix for a city and it’s a progression to get there.” – Todd Schmaderer (Video: Washington Post Live)

“It does us no good in a society when that juvenile turns 19 and becomes an adult and we arrest them a week later, that’s almost a failure of our juvenile justice system that we did not intervene, we did not rehab, we did not bring them back into a fold.” – Todd Schmaderer (Video: Washington Post Live)

Todd Schmaderer

Omaha Police Chief