Dr. Chad Posick and Dr. Adam Bossler Attend Project Ceasefire Savannah Meeting in NYC

August 7, 2015

From left to right: City Manager Stephanie Cutter, Mayor Edna Jackson, Professor David Kennedy, Chief Joseph Lumpkin, District Attorney Meg Heap, Professor Chad Posick, Professor Adam Bossler, and Public Information Officer Kristin Fulford.

On July 15^th and 16, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology professors Chad Posick and Adam Bossler attended a planning meeting in New York City for a new antiviolence initiative in Savannah called Project Ceasefire.  The group that traveled to NYC for the workshop included: Mayor Edna Jackson, City Manager Stephanie Cutter, Chief Joseph Lumpkin and other representatives from SCMPD, Assistant County Manager Michael Kaigler, Presiding Chatham County Juvenile Court Judge LeRoy Burke III, Chatham County District Attorney Meg Heap, Chatham County District Attorney Public Information Kristin Fulford, officials from the ATF and FBI, US Attorney Edward Tarver, representatives from probation and parole and the Sheriff’s Office, Armstrong Atlantic State lecturer Dr. Maxine Bryant, and community members from West Savannah, Cuyler-Brownville, and Edgemere-Sackville.  The team met with John Jay University researchers and Professor David Kennedy to begin planning the Ceasefire initiative which targets the most prolific and violent offenders for intervention and/or suppression. This marks the beginning of a long-term collaboration between the City of Savannah and Georgia Southern University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology on violence prevention and intervention strategies.

On August 3^rd and 4^th, Adam Bossler attended a two day work session held by John Jay researchers at the SCMPD Professional Development Center.  The work session focused on collecting information on the groups most responsible for violence in Savannah (i.e. group audit) and reviewing three years worth of homicides and 18-24 months worth of aggravated assaults with guns (i.e. incident reviews).  The work session was attended by agents, officers, and representatives from the SCMPD and other local municipalities, ATF, and the federal and county prosecutor’s offices.