RICHMOND, Va. -- Memories of Laverne McMullen's son are scattered across her South Richmond apartment.
“Once we lose our kids to this street violence, we have pictures of our kids everywhere," said Laverne, the mother of Kenny Cooper. “He loved his friends to his family. He was very loyal and dedicated.”
Cooper was just 27-years-old when he was shot and killed in an alleyway on the city's Northside back in April.
“My mind takes me to April 5th every day. What he was going through, what his last thoughts were. Was he crying out? Was he crying in? Did he know this was actually going to be his last moment on Earth? We as parents have to endure that all day.”
Despite living in a nightmare for the past five months, McMullen said she fights through her grief to continue advocating against gun violence in her community.
“My goal is to stop this crisis. I’m willing to do whatever it takes," she said.
She plans to launch a non-profit called the Kenneth Cooper Foundation which aims to provide more opportunities to the youth and take guns out of their hands. She added she believes youth resort to violence in the midst of conflict because they're influenced by television and video games.
"They get mad at a person because they don't like a person, so they want to kill you. Once you take a person's life, there is no going back," McMullen said. "We've got to get these guns away from these kids."
So far this year, crime statistics from Richmond Police show the city has seen at least 817 total violent crimes which include homicides, rapes, robberies, and assaults. That's a slight increase of 3% from 796 this time in 2021.
“This community really does need help," McMullen said.
And help is what the Commonwealth wants to offer to local communities across the state.
Bob Mosier, Gov. Glenn Youngkin's Public Safety and Homeland Security Secretary, heads the newly-established Violent Crime Task Force.
“We’ve conducted listening sessions all over the Commonwealth in different areas where there's been a problem with violent crime," Mosier said. "We would ask questions about what they are learning-- having an organic response to ways that we can address the problem, maybe find out new ways too that we can pass information along to other localities."
He called it a well-rounded approach to identifying a locality's unique challenges contributing to crime and then laying out groundwork to fix them. Mosier said solutions can range from strengthening educational or health programs to increasing the presence of law enforcement.
“People, when you see a marked police car, are less likely to engage in behavior and rethink whatever they're engaged with at the time," Mosier said.
He said the state has already implemented this initiative through an unprecedented partnership in Petersburg by deploying state police resources there to create what he called a "police surge."
But throughout covering crime in Central Virginia, some citizens have told CBS 6 they don't believe a bigger police presence is the answer to stopping violence.
During a September community session with Richmond's Police Chief Gerald Smith, one citizen described police officers as "unapproachable."
And Patrice Bellazer, a Richmond Northside resident of more than 20 years, said some of her neighbors are not comfortable with police in their community.
"People don't believe in the police anymore because of the things that have been happening with police being violent toward innocent people. I know they got good police, but a lot of people are very weary of the police right now," Bellazer said.
Mosier said he acknowledged that as a "very real" concern.
"When we are in their communities, and we're working with them, we should be working hand in glove. And so, we have other members of the community that are coming alongside law enforcement and the faith community that are coming together with people in the community to talk about those issues that you described, and how to overcome those issues," Mosier said.
Another challenge to beefing up the presence of law enforcement is police departments facing a shortage of officers. For example, Richmond Police is down about 150 officers out of more than 700 total positions.
Mosier said resources could be utilized from "other areas" to make up for shortages, and he believes staffing will improve in the near future as Youngkin requests additional funding for law enforcement.
"We are working in that direction, increasing the pay and get the staffing numbers back up. I know that between the Virginia State Police and sheriffs and police and localities across the Commonwealth, they've seen an increase. Be prepared, we're going to have to do more on that front."
In addressing crime, community members, anti-violence activists, local leaders, and even police have consistently raised concerns about an abundance of illegal guns in their neighborhoods and the easy access young people have to firearms.
When asked how Mosier aimed to combat the issue, he said a new process has been implemented in the juvenile justice system that would identify those in possession of illegal firearms, hold them accountable, and then help them get services.
"Our Director of Juvenile Justice Amy Floriano issued an administrative override directive. What it did is it said any juveniles caught in the possession of an illegal firearm, that they would immediately be taken to juvenile detention. That way, they could be brought before a juvenile judge to have a judge involved in the future of that child's life and working with the family and guardians, whatever the case may be."
He said between May and August, 924 juveniles who possessed an illegal firearm were detained across the state.
However, advocates for juvenile justice reform, including Valerie Slater with the non-profit Rise for Youth, have been working to keep children out of the juvenile justice system. Slater has pushed for the Department of Juvenile Justice to be moved from under the umbrella of Public Safety and Homeland Security to Health and Human Resources.
"The way you respond to children who are living through trauma is you bring in health responses, bring in mental health providers," she told CBS 6 in April.
A bill that would've created a study into that shift passed in the 2022 General Assembly but was vetoed by the governor, who said the resources already provided under the purview of Public Safety and Homeland Security held children accountable and provided adequate rehabilitative services.
But a 2021 report by the nonpartisan group, JLARC, which provides oversight to state government operations, showed detention centers are ill-equipped with effective rehabilitative programs and are unlikely to reduce youth from recommitting crimes once released.
Mosier said the services at-risk juveniles need range from oversight to education.
The task force has identified 12 Virginia localities that it aims to get involved with and six that would require "deeper engagement" including Richmond and Petersburg.
Petersburg has become the first locality to enter a detailed plan with the state which aims to rejuvenate and revitalize the city. The collaboration in its totality includes six pillars, 42 initiatives, and 61 organizations participating.
Petersburg's mayor described the partnership as a "turning point in the city's history" as the Republican-led state government committed to pouring an abundance of resources into the democratic-led city government.
In mid-September, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears told CBS 6 a similar partnership could be possible in Richmond.
"We can do that in Richmond if certain people want it to happen, and I'm talking about in government," Sears said.
At this point, the task force has held one listening session with Richmond. City officials said it was a "productive meeting" and both parties are still in the early stages of their conversations.
McMullen, still grappling with the pain of losing Cooper, said she supported the task force's efforts. She encouraged all public officials to come together to save lives regardless of political affiliation.
“Our votes got them there. Since our votes got you there, let's put in the work," McMullen said. "It's okay to accept help. I'm all for help. I need help. Somebody somewhere like me, sitting crying over their child, who just lost someone, needs help."
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