How a Community-Based Intervention Model Drove Down Juvenile Crime and Resulted in Fewer Arrests

Captain Mike Schentrup is currently a Bureau Commander for the Gainesville (FL) Police Department, where he has worked for the last 23 years. The majority of his career has been spent in investigative units, including major case detective, gang and burglary unit sergeant, and ultimately the division commander for detectives. Captain Schentrup has a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Florida in Sociology, with an emphasis on Criminal Justice and has recently attended both the Police Executive Research Forum's (PERF) Senior Management Institute for Police and IACP's Leadership in Police Organizations course.  He has three previously published articles on sexual violence response, including 'The Transformation of a Major Case Detective' (American Police Beat, 2017); 'How to Sustain Sexual Assault Investigation Changes' (LawOfficer Online, 2018); and 'Initial Officer Response to Sexual Violence' (Chief of Police Magazine, 2018).  He has spoken at the 2018 EVAWI Conference in Chicago and the 2019 ICESA Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking Conference in Indiana. Captain Schentrup has taught for ten years in various investigative fields and is the owner/ lead trainer of Advanced Police Concepts, LLC (AdvancePoliceConcepts.com). He is also an adjunct master instructor for law enforcement for the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence (FCASV) and recently was interviewed extensively for a video presentation developed by the FCASV produced as a roll-call training video for patrol officers across Florida.  Captain Schentrup is a current member of the Florida Statewide Sexual Assault Response Team (SART).

Bridgett Smart, a Certified Crime and Intelligence Analyst with the Gainesville Police Department, has almost 10 years of law enforcement experience. CCIA Smart has a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice and Behavior Analysis (Cum Laude Honors) and a Master's Degree in Public Administration and Non-Profit Organizational Leadership, both from Savannah State University. CCIA Smart is certified as a Crime and Intelligence Analyst through the California Department of Justice. In addition, she's an active member of the International Association of Crime Analysts, the Florida Crime & Intelligence Analyst Association, Pi Alpha Alpha (International Honor Society for Public Administration), & Golden Key International Honour Society. Over the course of her career Ms. Smart has been assigned to several crime focused driven projects or programs. For example, the End Gun Violence Initiative, Drug Market Intervention, Gang Taskforce, Progress GNV, HEROES, and most recent, the Juvenile Auto Burglary & Auto Theft Suppression (JABATS) Meeting with the Gainesville Police Department. The Juvenile Auto Burglary & Auto Theft Suppression Meeting was created during the latter months of 2018 as a response to an increase amount of conveyance burglaries and stolen vehicles in the City of Gainesville. The Meeting started in January of 2019 and is held at the Gainesville Police Department on Thursdays at 10:00 am and is coordinated by Certified Crime and Intelligence Analyst Bridgett Smart. CCIA Smart is responsible for maintaining the priority list of about thirty-five high risk juveniles, attending Juvenile Court, and reviewing and analyzing juvenile curfew checks and related police reports and crime. CCIA Smart has conducted several statistical analysis of crime within the City of Gainesville and has been featured in a few publications of the Gainesville's Sun, a local newspaper. Lastly, Ms. Smart strives daily to achieve goals in both professional and personal endeavors. Her level of ambition, determination, motivation, and devotion have contributed to the accolades of which she possess for continued success and advancement.

A native of Gainesville, Florida, Caleb Young saw the disparities within the local demographic that allowed him to engage leaders in the community as well as community residents, local business owners, faith leaders, service providers and at-risk individuals promulgating the message that violence should not be viewed as normal but as behavior that can be changed. During his 17-year tenure at the Gainesville Police Department, Caleb begin working with a culmination of multi-disciplinary professionals, from fields of law enforcement, intervention and prevention, employment outreach, education, mental health and social services to work together to case-manage and prevent violence by identifying and mediating potentially lethal conflicts in the community and following up to ensure that that conflict does not re-ignite. This ultimately, began modifying behaviors and changing potentially violent trajectories. He has been Assistant Director at both the Reichert House Youth Academy, former recipient of the IACP Award for Community Oriented Policing in 2009 and the BOLD Program which provides adult offenders, who wish to blaze a new trail, a second chance as a productive citizen in the community.   Caleb is pursuing a higher education at Columbia Southern University and has the pleasure of serving as Certified Youth Practitioner Supervisor and Gang Investigator. Caleb currently holds certifications with the National Alliance of Mental Illness Crisis Intervention Team, Advanced Gang Investigator certified through the Florida Gang Investigators Association, Certified Forensic Specialist through Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, Career & Employment Specialist through CareerSource of North Central Florida and Certified Drill Instructor.  Caleb has received accommodations and awards from the Gainesville Police Department that includes Outstanding Unit Citation, State Attorney's Mentor of the Year Award, Accommodations from Lancaster State Prison and from the University of Florida Institute of Food & Agricultural Science. Through his years of growth and accomplishments, Caleb aspires to continue to combat violence in the community by educating and empowering youth and young adults, ultimately decreasing the recidivism rate through systems designed to offer help and not harm.