Fayetteville is taking a bold step toward compassionate, community-centered public safety with the creation of the Office of Community Safety (OCS)—shifting from an enforcement-first approach to collaborative, non-armed crisis intervention that prioritizes care, coordination, and prevention.
Launched in response to community advocacy and inspired by national calls for justice, OCS was seeded with a $250,000 budget in 2023 and later received over $2 million in city funding. It is built on four pillars:
- Violence Interruption – Proactively de-escalating conflicts and preventing incidents before they happen.
- Mental Health Response – Dispatching trained mental health professionals for non-violent crises instead of police.
- Youth Engagement – Partnering with young people to foster safer neighborhoods.
- Homelessness Intervention – Coordinating support for unsheltered residents and connecting them with services.
OCS is not meant to replace police, but to fill gaps in the public safety net and address challenges best met through empathy and early intervention. The city has made community input central, hosting public forums like the 2024 Public Safety Summit, where Emancipate NC’s Jaelyn Miller shared lessons from Raleigh’s CARES program.
By mid-2025, priorities included hiring a director, rebranding the “PD Cares” initiative, and launching a partnership with NICJR to lead violence reduction strategies.
The vision is clear: safety built through care, not force—with transparency, adaptation, and trust at its core. Residents can expect to see OCS in action through neighborhood engagement, public events, and ongoing collaboration with community partners.