Mayor Freddie O’Connell joined the Metro Public Health Department today to announce a new task force to focus on improving safety and health in Nashville and begin work to craft a new community safety plan. Mayor O’Connell selected 29 Nashvillians to serve on the Community Safety Task Force, which holds its first meeting on January 15. Engaging with the community will be a critical piece of the committee’s work.
“In 2025, we saw crime go down in every precinct across the city, and every crime category saw reductions, including levels of robbery and burglary that we hadn’t seen since the 1960s,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell said. “With this new community safety task force, we are pushing for even more significant reductions in crime. Community safety looks at not just how we solve crime but how we create environments that remove incentives to commit crime.”
The Metro Public Health Department will play a role in the work of the task force, specifically recalling elements of social determinants of health and how they play a role in the safety of the community.
“In Public Health, we understand health outcomes are not always evenly distributed, often because of factors outside of the control of our community,” said MPHD Director Dr. Sanmi Areola. “By addressing root causes of health, we hope to better equip Nashville as a safe and healthy city today and in the years and decades to come.”
On Thursday, Mayor O’Connell joined 32 new graduates of the police academy to welcome them to the force. Since his inauguration, Mayor O’Connell has joined MNPD to swear in 282 new police officers. That investment in public safety paid off in 2025 with crime down in every category and in every precinct.
When we combine investment in traditional public safety with continued work on broader approaches to community safety, we get a holistic, complementary approach to making Nashville as safe as it can be. The work of the community safety task force will complement these investments in public safety by not only focusing on solving crime but by working to reduce the situations that often lead to crime. That looks like ensuring youth have meaningful summer opportunities through programs like POWER Youth or after-school programs through NAZA. That means ensuring continued investment in mental health and wellness and programs like REACH or Partners in Care.
The Mayor’s Office is also in the process of hiring a Crime Prevention and Violence Reduction Director to work alongside community and public safety teams.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell appointed 29 members of the Community Safety Task Force, drawing from a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences. Two co-chairs were selected for the task force.
The full list of task force members includes:
- Co-Chair Lonnell Matthews, Davidson County Juvenile Court
- Co-Chair Sue Fort-White, Our Kids Center
- Emel Alexander, MDHA
- Erika Burnett, Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee
- Judge Sheila Calloway, Davidson County Juvenile Court
- April Calvin, Office of Homeless Services
- Will Connely, The Contributor
- Michael Dixon, County Clerk
- Dr. Veronica Elders, Nashville General Hospital
- Benaisas Esayeas, Black Mental Health Village
- Cintoria Franklin, Pass the Beauty
- Katrina Frierson, Mending Hearts
- Julius Gallon, Retired MNPD
- Thomas Gooch, My Father’s House
- Joseph Gutierrez, Asian and Pacific Islanders of Middle Tennessee
- Dawn Harrington, Free Hearts
- Rikki Harris, TN Voices
- Kay Higgs, STARS Nashville
- Jordan Huffman, Metro Council
- Martesha Johnson-Moore, Public Defenders Office
- Diane Lance, Office of Family Safety
- Bishop Aaron Marble, Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship
- Makayla McCree, AARP Tennessee
- Martha Silva, Conexion Americas
- Shivan Sindi, Kurdish Community Liaison
- Robert Wallace, Metro Nashville Public Schools
- Dr. Jay Wellons, Vanderbilt University
- Verna Wyatt, TN Voices for Victims
- Mark Yancy, Nashville Health
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