“Baltimore officials are expected to authorize the expansion of the anti-violence Safe Streets program to a fifth city location — likely the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, the site of Freddie Gray’s arrest,” baltimoresun.com reports. “The Board of Estimates, which is controlled by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, plans to accept a $180,000 one-year grant from the Abell Foundation to employ ex-felons to stem crime in the West Baltimore neighborhood. The grant, along with federal dollars, will fund the program until June 2016, city officials said.” Not to mention $770k in Baltimore taxpayer funds. This despite Baltimore “Violence Interrupters” Caught Dealing Drugs, Possessing Illegal Guns (image above), If I were a cynical man . . .
I’d say that the City of Baltimore, along with the Abell Foundation (“supporting innovative efforts to solve systemic social, economic and environmental problems”) and Uncle Sam (supporting Democrat regimes nationwide), is aiding and abetting criminals with a proven track record of committing crimes. Again. Still.
Given the context of the program’s extra-legal activities, also provided by the Sun, the quotes from supporter of the ex-con employment program are, well, here they are . . .
But drug-related arrests have marred its successes. In 2013, the Baltimore Health Department, which runs Safe Streets, suspended the Mondawmin branch and retrained employees after two outreach workers were arrested within two weeks. Rawlings-Blake also froze funding briefly for two Safe Streets sites in 2010 and ordered an investigation after federal authorities said the East Baltimore branch had ties to the Black Guerrilla Family gang.
In July, the East Baltimore office again caused concern when police officers found seven guns and drugs stashed there. Its operations were suspended.
Wen said the Rawlings-Blake administration continues to believe in the program, though the July arrests slowed the timetable for expansion.
“We very much believe in the efficacy of Safe Streets,” Wen said. “We are implementing new security protocols and better background checks. We really believe in recruiting ex-offenders and giving people a second chance.” . . .
Abell Foundation president Robert C. Embry Jr. said the organization would like to commit more resources to Safe Streets in future years.
“There’s no reason why we wouldn’t fund it, if it’s effective,” Embry said. “We want to reduce crime, and we think Safe Streets is one of the most effective interventions to reduce crime.”
He said he saw no reason to abandon Safe Streets because of last month’s arrests.
“It would be reasonable to assume that if you’re hiring ex-offenders, some portion of them are going to offend again,” Embry said. “I would expect some in the future will break the law. The important thing is whether crime goes down in that area.”
Huh. And there I was thinking that the important thing is creating a community with a legal and moral foundation and framework that encourages and rewards the aspirations of law-abiding citizens, and disincentivizes those who break the law and prey on the law-abiding. What would a million dollars worth of academic scholarships or small business loans have done for these communities? Something. What will Safe Streets do? Worse than nothing.
Stuck on stupid in baltimore.
Anyone here ever read “A Clockwork Orange?” Didn’t the government officials of that story make a habit of hiring the violent, hardened, barely English-speaking (no, really, a bit of knowledge of Russian makes the book FAR easier to understand) products of that place’s failing public schools as “law enforcement” too?
Or am I just singing in the rain?
maybe they are getting the locals ready for a little of the in and out? or the purge. . .
So now they think that background checks are going to help. On people they are hiring specifically because they are criminals.
Logic hurts.
I thought the same thing. Usually, background checks are to weed out people who can’t be trusted. *But I guess if you can’t trust an ex-con, who can you trust?*/sarcasm/
Only an obama supporter would think this is a great idea…….didn’t the cons sell drugs this last year? This is definitely a liberal having a brain storm.
It’s almost as though they desperately want the city of Baltimore to be a smoking crater. I can’t possibly even imagine what type of mind thinks this going to work.
“And there I was thinking that the important thing is creating a community with a legal and moral framework and foundation that encourages and rewards the aspirations of law-abiding citizens, and disincentives those who break the law and prey on the law-abiding.”
All the evidence supports the theory that thinking like that would get some of the community members labeled as uncle toms.
Only if you don’t have a work ethic. Oh. Wait…
Reminds me of how back in the 80s the NYC district attorney’s office tried to pin a wrap on Roy Ennis, at that time the leader of the conservative Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), by claiming he assaulted a poor man while he was plying his trade. “Plying his trade” meant the ‘squeegee man’ panhandler demanded Ennis give him money because he ran up to his car and started cleaning the widows without his permission. When Ennis refused and told him to leave, the guy reached through the window and attempted to assault and rob him. Two cops witnessed the event and did not intervene until Ennis punched the guy in the face to get him to back off. The DA went so far as to clean the guy up and give him a suit so he’d look presentable when he testified against Ennis for casualty. If that’s what passes for New York justice, I’m not surprised by the actions in Baltimore. With all that money flowing in they should be able to buy their party members some nice clothes too. May I suggest brown shirts, or would black be more appropriate for the SS (Safe Streets) cadre?
Can’t be worse than the cops. 🙂
The black progressives and their white liberal supporters have destroyed Baltimore. It will be the Detroit of the east coast in less than ten years.
after Detroit’s collapse, then came the gentrification. . . . . you would be amazed at what is happening in the downtown of detroit looks like now . . . friggin’ wine bars, Belgian bowling leagues, rents thru the roof, and a whole foods. perhaps this is part of the liberal agenda to clear out the law abiding poor without resorting to the cost of eminent domain?
@dirk
Isn’t that just putting lipstick on a pig. The population that tolerated all the criminals and shunned personal responsibility have to find another host to leach off.
An island of joy, pleasure and excess surrounded by a waste land.
Yes, that’s it, it’s a training problem. I can just imagine somebody raising his hand in a seminar to ask the instructor “so, do you mean to tell me it’s actually a crime to sell any amount of crack cocaine? Even if I send in the sales tax? “
Throwing away good money after bad. Just wait for the BS “statistics” to be published lauding the success of the program.
Makes sense to me. Next, Baltimore should hire Jared Fogle to combat pedophilia.
Hey, it’s for the children.
I don’t know why you are all complaining, this makes perfect sense.
Get a bunch of folks who have poor decision making skills and possibly worse impulse control. Put them through a criminal justice system built for profit over punishment or rehabilitation where they can learn more dubious skills and make connections. Release them early. Pay them to give “guidance” to other folks with poor decision making skills possibly worse impulse control. Have them recruit these other folks to help them with their side projects. Have the cops somewhere else as these guys have it covered now. Let it turn to hell, nuke from orbit, pave over it and build a Mall where all the friends of the powers that be get construction contracts..
Unless the mall isn’t the end game in which case it’s simply a retarded idea.
This is an awesome plan, you simply have to view it from the back of your unicorn.
The Wire, Season 6…
Well I guess CRIME DOES pay…nice Clockwork Orange reference.I took my girlfriend to that in the summer of ’72. She got sick at the ” ultra violence” and had to leave(long ago and far away)LOL
Is this real? Sounds like surfing to see how gullible someone is.
“We are implementing new security protocols and better background checks. We really believe in recruiting ex-offenders and giving people a second chance.” . . .
——-
Running a background check on a known criminal? Dafuq is it with libs and background checks?
Maybe they’ll give them a gun or 3 so they can “protect themselves” while they’re taking part in (un)safe streets project. Makes total sense, right? Since they ran a background check on the people before they hired them.
Its better than continuing the policy of mass incarceration which has worked oh so well in turning these communities into drug and crime free utopias. If, you want to open a dialogue with unsavory people you need to hire your own unsavory people. Ask the CIA about it sometime. A bunch of white college kids, civil servants or god forbid the po-po is not going to be trusted or even spoken too by this population. Will it work? Who knows? But anything is better than arresting people for no reason other than to pad your stats.
True that. The trick is finding the first few badasses who can be actually counted on to get medieval on the asses of those who aren’t actually with the program.
I have a better idea: end the misnamed “War on Drugs”, tax any of it not grown in a garden, and use the revenues to provide grants to help local businesses get started.
Oh — and put all the felons in a special Army brigade dedicated to being the worst of the worst of the worst, to be sent where things are worst.
Victimless crime laws need to end and minor criminals should perform work release, community service, and restitution.
I sort of like putting the really bad criminals in the Gladiatorial Games or a Brandenburg Discipline Battalion.
The program the government has now should be retitled Funds For Thugs.
The USA needs to quit the Great Society and NEW Deal BS.
The USA needs to quit sending jobs overseas with bad trade agreements.
The USA needs to control illegal immigration.
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result… anyway, I suppose it relieves the boredom. Actually, it DOES make a strange amount of sense, in a very bring-on-the-post-apocalyptic kind of way. The big fish eat the little fish, until they get blown away by a crazier little fish. It must be an experiment in Darwinism… yeah, that’s it. Gotta be…
Maybe Shrimp Boy and Uncle Leland can come work for Baltimore when they get out of the slammer.
HRC too.
Checked my driver’s license and it doesn’t say Baltimore anywhere at all so I’m good with whatever the genius mayor spends money on.
And the corruption continues…
More legal guns diverted to thugs. Fast n Furious in the cities. You want to solve the inner city problems? Leave doggie bags filled with crack and loaded Glocks citywide and let nature take its course.
“Think of it as evolution in action.”
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