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Overview
The Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), housed within the Department of Public Health, works to strengthen coordination, capacity and partnerships to address the root causes of violence, and to advance policies and practices that are grounded in race equity, to prevent all forms of violence and to promote healing across all communities in Los Angeles County. OVP monitors the trends and circumstances of violent deaths affecting Los Angeles County to inform decision makers and program planners about ways to prevent and intervene on violence in the community, at home and in the workplace.
Each year in June the Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention and the entire country commemorates Gun Violence Awareness Month. The month-long event was launched in 2013 following the murder of Hadiya Pendleton, a Chicago teenager, who earlier that year had attended President Obama’s inauguration. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s friends commemorated her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others.
Wear Orange is now observed every June to honor Hadiya and over 43,000 men, women and children who die every year from gun violence in the United States.
Why This Month Matters
The event serves as a vivid reminder of the devastating emotional, physical, psychological, and financial toll that gun violence takes on so many LA County families and communities.
Provisional data from 2022 show that in LA County, there were over 800 lives lost to gun violence including 500 homicides and over 300 lives lost to gun suicide.
Every 30 hours, a child is killed or injured by gun violence in LA County.
During 2022, 978 LA County residents were hospitalized for non-fatal firearm injuries; 626 (64%) of these injuries were due to assaults.
That same year, the estimated direct dollar costs to respond to firearm homicides and assaults among LA County residents were over $570 million. Direct costs include medical and mental health care, law enforcement/criminal justice, and costs to employers. Additional estimated costs from lost work and lost quality of life were over $9 billion.
To counter unintentional shootings, gun suicides, and gun theft from private residences, OVP launched a program in April to raise awareness about gun safety and distribute 60,000 gun locks; free, no questions asked.
Everyone Has A Role To Play - What You Can Do To Help
Secure Your Firearms
In conjunction with Gun Violence Awareness Month, OVP has expanded the Gun Safety Awareness Campaign including the distribution of gun safety locks at LA County tool Lending Libraries. To obtain a gun safety lock, visit our gun safety page or find more information at https://lacountylibrary.org/gun-violence-awareness/.
Advocate for Community Safety
OVP is encouraging everyone to join gun safety efforts in your community and to wear orange during the of June as a visible show of connection and solidarity.
Foster Communication
To create safer communities, it’s essential that we talk about gun safety. This includes checking in with neighbors when children are having play dates to determine whether there are guns inside the home, and if so, understanding whether they are locked and unloaded. Securing guns helps to secure the futures of children and youth. We all have a critical role to play in implementing gun safety practices in our communities. For more information about how to talk to neighbors and friends, visit The Talk Project and Project Child Safe.
Educate Yourself and Others
Gun Violence Restraining Orders (GVROs) are a tool that can be used by civilians to remove guns and ammunition for twenty-one days to five years from individuals at risk of harming themselves or others.To learn more about GVROs and how to obtain one, visit OVP GVROs.
In recent years, the gun safety movement has expanded into a major force of individuals committed to supporting safer communities and passing groundbreaking legislation in many states, including California. Millions of people like you are working to build a society where all individuals – including our youth – can feel safe from gun violence and the threat of gun violence. We honor Gun Violence Awareness Month 2024 with the knowledge that change is possible and we all play a part.
Sources:
Mortality data: Los Angeles County Annual 2022 Data File (Provisional), assembled from California Department of Public Health Vital Records Data. Office of Health Assessment & Epidemiology, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
OVP to Distribute 60,000 Gun Locks; Free, No Questions Asked
On Tuesday, April 2, the Department of Public Health’s Office of Violence Prevention publicly launched an initiative to help prevent the devastating impact of gun violence including the tragedy of unintentional shootings – which disproportionately affect children – and gun suicides. As part of the initiative, OVP will be distributing 60,000 gun locks; free, no questions asked.
The locks, educational materials and community resources are available through this Gun Lock Request Form and six County medical facilities: Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, High Desert Regional Health Center, Los Angeles General Medical Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center, Olive View – UCLA Medical Center, and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center.
“Far too many families have experienced the terrible pain of losing a child or teen-ager to gun violence,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Director of the Department of Public Health. “In a number of these cases, the simple act of locking and safely storing firearms would have prevented a tragedy.”
Dr. Ferrer was joined by several speakers at Rancho Los Amigos for the official, public kickoff of the gun lock distribution program, including Dr. Shannon Thyne, Director of Pediatrics for the L.A. County Department of Health Services, and two survivors of gun violence.
A total of 13 gun safety and community organizations participated in a resource fair at Rancho Los Amigos following the end of the formal ceremony.
Distribution of gun locks is part of OVP’s comprehensive strategy to reduce gun violence in our communities, which includes developing the 40-point Gun Violence Prevention Platform, providing education about various restraining orders, supporting federal and state gun safety legislation, a school safety initiative, and partnering with health care providers on discussing safe storage with their patients.
OVP has allocated the entire $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that it received in 2022 as part of the County’s COVID-19 plan to support violence prevention, intervention and healing services and programs. A total of 56 grants were distributed to community-based organizations across Los Angeles County dedicated to preventing all forms of violence. OVP partnered with the California Community Foundation (CCF) in awarding the grants.
The ARPA funding represents the largest federal grant to OVP in history. The funds are intended to prevent violence incidents, implement crisis response when violent incidents occur, address factors contributing to gang and gun violence, increase access to trauma-informed care and healing-centered services, and invest in upstream youth programs, youth engagement, and youth leadership opportunities across Los Angeles County.
“We are grateful to the Biden administration for including violence prevention and intervention as a key component of COVID-19 recovery and to the Board of Supervisors for allocating these funds to the Office of Violence Prevention,” said Andrea Welsing, OVP Director.
Youth Suicide and Suicide Attempts in Los Angeles County
The Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention has released a new report, “Youth Suicide and Suicide Attempts in Los Angeles County,” which highlights suicide and suicide attempt data among Los Angeles County youth ages 10-24 between 2016 and 2020. The report includes general demographics, methods most frequently used, and suicide trends during the five-year period. The report also briefly overviews reported suicides and attempts during 2020, with the acknowledgment that there is still much more to understand about this unprecedented time. The report concludes with links to prevention resources that reduce stigma and normalize mental health as an integral component of health and wellbeing.
OVP supports the County’s LA vs. Hate Initiative led by the Human Relations Commission in collaboration with community partners.
LA vs Hate is a community-centered creative campaign to encourage and support all residents of Los Angeles County to unite against, report, and resist hate.
If you are the victim, or witness of, a hate incident or hate crime you can report the incident/crime with 211 LA. Your report is confidential and 211 is not affiliated with law enforcement.
OVP Early Implementation Strategic Plan
After extensive review and input, the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) Early Implementation Strategic Plan was adopted by the County Leadership Committee and Community Partnership Council in September 2020. Read more about OVP Early Implementation Strategic Plan here.
The OVP Strategic Plan is a live document and we welcome your ongoing feedback, specifically as it pertains to our priorities, goals, objectives and strategies. Please provide your input by sending an email to ovp@ph.lacounty.gov or email Andrea Welsing, OVP Director, directly at awelsing@ph.lacounty.gov. We hope you will provide your thoughts, comments and recommendations for the Strategic Plan and that you will continue to be part of our violence prevention and healing efforts as we work together to advance strategies to prevent violence and promote healing.
DPH Director's Message on Racism
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director, Dr. Barbara Ferrer,
acknowledges that addressing law enforcement violence and racism are core to public health.
