They've been literally paying key young males to stay out of trouble.
In late 2007, Boggan launched the Office of Neighborhood Safety, an experimental public-private partnership that's introduced the "Richmond model" for rolling back street violence. It has done it with a mix of data mining and mentoring, and by crossing lines that other anti-crime initiatives have only tiptoed around. Four times a year, the program's street team sifts through police records and its own intelligence to determine, with actuarial detachment, the 50 people in Richmond most likely to shoot someone and to be shot themselves. ONS tracks them and approaches the most lethal (and vulnerable) on the list, offering them a spot in a program that includes a stipend to turn their lives around. While ONS is city-funded and has the blessing of the chief of police, it resolutely does not share information with the cops. "It's the only agency where you're required to have a criminal background to be an employee," Boggan jokes.
http://www.motherjones.com/...
They've been reducing the use of deadly force by police. And the chief even embraces the BLM movement.
Additionally, the Richmond police force has been credited with embracing community policing and reducing its use of deadly force since Chris Magnus became chief in 2006, as Yes! Magazine reported. A photo of Magnus holding a #BlackLivesMatter sign at a December protest went viral and made him a nationally recognized advocate for community policing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The results? Murders are down 77% since 2007.
It's time for other communities to follow Richmond California's lead.