COLUMBIA, S.C. — The City of Columbia on Tuesday named Trevon Fordham as the director of the city's newly created Office of Violent Crime Prevention.
Mayor Daniel Rickenmann first considered the new office about a year ago when he first took office. He's calling its new leader the quarterback of the team.
The agency aims to find ways to curb crime in the city by identifying places and behavior associated with violence and working to prevent it or intervene.
“I’m a man of few words. I’m more about action so we are ready to hit the ground running," Fordham said. "I realize that we've got some work ahead of us, but I know for us to combat violent crime in the City of Columbia, it's going to take a collaborative approach of us all working together."
Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said data from the police department provides a great foundation for the new office.
“Creating this office creates a very holistic strategy for education, prevention and, of course, we’re the enforcement wing of it, if you will. But, we do a lot of evidence-based innovative programming now with our cease-fire program and we’re very data-driven," Holbrook said.
Fordham said the community is one of his priorities.
“Overall, like I said, we want to get out into the community. We want to really bridge that gap of the existing efforts that are taking place," Fordham said. "I guess I’ve been deemed the quarterback of the team to really bring everybody together, law enforcement with us, our community groups our government agencies, just bringing everybody together.”
While the new office won’t overlap duties with Columbia police, the team will work with the department.
According to Chief Holbrook, when interviewing candidates for this job, the city was looking for someone who not only looked good on paper, but had the experience.
“My background includes law enforcement, juvenile justice administration, just a number of different roles and positions that have prepared me for this role here today," Fordham said. "Again, I’m a public servant at heart. I love helping people. I love building up communities."
While Tuesday was the director’s first day, the city is still working to build the rest of the team to work on violent crime intervention.