Public Health Madison & Dane County is launching the Isthmus Safety Initiative, a new program that aims to reduce violence in Downtown Madison.

The initiative will be led by an Advisory Council that compiled data and research to create a list of strategies to prevent violence in the State Street area, according to the PHMDC website. The City of Madison received a federal grant from the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance that is financing this new initiative.

Public Health Violence Prevention Supervisor Cindy Grady said these strategies are aimed toward fighting gun violence and sexual violence because those are the crimes with the highest reports to the Madison Police Department.

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Some of these strategies include more lighting on State Street and free bystander awareness training for bar and restaurant staff on State Street, Grady said.

“We contracted out with the [Rape Crisis Center] to provide these trainings to restaurants and other establishments that are open later at night to learn about how to safely identify and potentially prevent situations that may lead to a sexual assault or gun crime,” Grady said. “We’re partnering with them to provide those trainings along State Street to the businesses who are willing to do that.”

The new lighting has already been implemented at the Buckeye parking lot near Peace Park, according to Grady.

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Other parts of these strategies include repairing existing cameras on State Street and hiring Safety Navigators that will be stationed on State Street as a visible crime deterrent, Grady said. These Safety Navigators will serve as people to ask for help, as well as a way for people to feel safe as they walk along State Street.

“If individuals feel that they need to safely get from one place to another along State Street during the evening hours or on weekends or during special events, then they can connect with these safety navigators to get from one place to another,” Grady said

Those who are interested in taking part in bystander awareness training can contact the Rape Crisis Center for more information.