US Congress should invest in proactive measures to keep people safe: The Hill

NEW YORK -- Proactive investments in the "social determinants of safety" are the most effective way to keep Americans safe, as decades of police funding has gotten people "nowhere," The Hill reported Saturday.

"It's time that our policies reflect this reality," it said in an opinion piece.

Some lawmakers recently have been clamoring to pass new public safety bills that would pour more resources into police departments nationwide, which actually usually doesn't work as they expect, it noted.

State and local police have received more than 14 billion US dollars over the past 25 years, but "despite leading all countries in criminalization and incarceration, the US is no safer than peer nations" with a rate of gun violence "significantly higher than international counterparts," it said.

Evidence has shown that what works is proactive investments in public health and prevention, economic opportunity and housing security, youth development and education, environment and community spaces, as well as institutional transformations, said The Hill.