"McGrier is the third Safe Streets worker to be killed in a little over a year...Safe Streets is a city-backed organization with workers who have had their own scrapes with the law but are respected on the streets and step in to “interrupt” or mediate conflicts before violence occurs."

Gee, it seems like "Drug dealer" might be a safer line of work.

Complete article:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/m...re35zkuai-story.html

Baltimore Safe Streets East worker killed Wednesday in quadruple shooting ‘wanted the best for his community’

By DARCY COSTELLO and JESSICA ANDERSON
BALTIMORE SUN |
JAN 20, 2022 AT 12:43 PM

DaShawn McGrier, a Safe Streets violence interrupter at McElderry Park, was one of the three men shot and killed on East Monument Street Wednesday night, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit confirmed.

McGrier had been working with Safe Streets for a little over a month, going to welding school by day and joining the anti-violence program at night, said Living Classrooms Foundation spokeswoman Meg Ward, who called him hardworking and a devoted, present father.

Living Classrooms is a nonprofit that operates Safe Streets sites in the McElderry Park and Belair-Edison neighborhoods. He was on his post, uniformed, at the time he was shot, Ward said.

“He was passionate about reducing violence in the community and wanted to be a positive part of that,” Ward said. “He was from the community. He wanted the best for his community.”

“He knew that violence and trauma were present in the community, and he wanted to change that.”

The quadruple shooting in East Baltimore left three men dead and another person injured. The other victims have not been identified. Police officers responded at about 7:25 p.m. to a ShotSpotter alert in the 2400 block of E. Monument Street, where they found four men suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.

McGrier is the third Safe Streets worker to be killed in a little over a year. Kenyell Wilson was killed in Cherry Hill in July and Dante Barksdale was killed outside Douglass Homes last January.

McGrier was the victim in 2018 of a savage beating by then-Baltimore Police Officer Arthur Williams that was caught on cellphone footage and went viral. The video and testimony at Williams’ criminal trial showed the attack came as McGrier was walking away from Williams and asking “why are you harassing me.”

Baltimore Circuit Judge Yolanda Tanner sentenced Williams to nine months in prison, and McGrier received a settlement of $500,000 from the city. He was hospitalized for three days and suffered a broken jaw and broken ribs among other injuries.

Warren Brown, an attorney who represented McGrier in a lawsuit against Baltimore Police, said McGrier had received about $300,000 from the settlement, and had some “sensible plans” to start breeding high-end dogs and open a kennel.

Brown didn’t know McGrier had joined Safe Streets, but said he wasn’t surprised. The 2018 excessive force case was precipitated by McGrier’s intervention in a separate incident, when he came to “the aid” of a woman officers were confronting, Brown said.

“It sounds like that would have been him,” Brown said. “He was that kind of way.”

Safe Streets is a city-backed organization with workers who have had their own scrapes with the law but are respected on the streets and step in to “interrupt” or mediate conflicts before violence occurs.

Ward said Thursday that the Safe Streets East team was “heartbroken.”

“It underscores the incredible need for violence interventions that work,” Ward added, calling Safe Streets a research-based, evidence-based model. “Our Safe Streets team believes in what they do.”

Cheryl Riviere, the managing director of community safety at Living Classrooms, said in a quote provided by Ward that “DaShawn would always say that if we could change people’s mentality and give them some options, resources, a GED, a trade, a job ... They’ll listen.”

Mayor Brandon Scott’s five-year crime-fighting plan calls for expanding the number of violence prevention programs and potentially revamping the current Safe Streets model.

“Our Safe Streets workers put their lives on the line day in and day out because they believe in a better future for our city — a future we all should believe in,” Scott said in a statement.

A citywide Safe Streets response is expected to take place Saturday, Ward said, but details were still being finalized.

quote:

“It underscores the incredible need for violence interventions that work,” Ward added, calling Safe Streets a research-based, evidence-based model.

Apparently the model was incomplete or flawed. That's what happens when you try to model a non-linear system without knowing the limitations.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Dante Barksdale was killed

Anybody else automatically wonder if was kin to Avon?

(I know completely wrong of me )

Looks like he should have taken his $500K and looked for a safer street away from Baltimore!
I wonder if he asked the shooter "why are you harassing me"?

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

“It underscores the incredible need for violence interventions that work,” Ward added, calling Safe Streets a research-based, evidence-based model.

Apparently the model was incomplete or flawed. That's what happens when you try to model a non-linear system without knowing the limitations.

I seem to remember we had a fairly effective force that responded to intervene in "violence" up until about 2 years ago.

Seems that "program" fell out of favor with those who do violence, tolerate violence, and excuse violence though. Call me old fashioned, but maybe those folks shouldn't be the ones to decide how violence is responded to considering they have somewhat of a biased interest in it...

Sounds like the kid was trying to do right. It's really sad and I see no end to the urban decay.

from 2015

https://www.baltimoresun.com/m...14-story.html#page=1

City officials have suspended operations of the Safe Streets anti-violence program in East Baltimore after police officers found seven guns and drugs stashed inside the Monument Street office.

Police said a robbery investigation led them to the office, and two employees were among those arrested. The suspension sidelines the program's work in East Baltimore at a time when gun violence has been spiking.

Safe Streets, a grant-funded program under the city's Health Department, uses ex-felons in an effort to stem crime. The program has been lauded for keeping violence at a minimum in the four neighborhoods where it operates, and some officials have urged its replication across the city.

The program has had trouble in the past, with offices previously suspended in 2010 and 2013 amid criminal allegations against employees. It has also faced criticism over its recruiting practices.

Police said this week's investigation began when they were called about 2:26 a.m. Monday to the intersection of Hillen and Forrest streets, just south of East Monument Street, where a man said he was just robbed at gunpoint by two men in a gray SUV.

Soon after, an officer spotted the vehicle parked in the 2300 block of E. Monument and saw men dart inside the Safe Streets office. When officers eventually raided the office, they found guns, heroin, cocaine, and other items used in the manufacturing and sale of drugs, including cutting agents and scales, police said.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Police officers found seven guns and drugs stashed inside the [Safe Streets] office.

Safe Streets uses ex-felons in an effort to stem crime.

Or in this case, ex-ex-felons.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Police officers found seven guns and drugs stashed inside the [Safe Streets] office.

Safe Streets uses ex-felons in an effort to stem crime.

Or in this case, ex-ex-felons.

And the Safe Streets felons seem to be using Safe Streets as a convenient cover for drug sales, as evidenced by the drugs and guns.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

“It underscores the incredible need for violence interventions that work,” Ward added, calling Safe Streets a research-based, evidence-based model.

Apparently the model was incomplete or flawed. That's what happens when you try to model a non-linear system without knowing the limitations.

Dems don't understand the difference between models and reality. Academic vs pragmatic. Theory vs real.

quote:

Safe Streets uses ex-felons in an effort to stem crime.

This is the dumbest thing I've read all year. My mind is numb.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

Safe Streets uses ex-felons in an effort to stem crime.

This is the dumbest thing I've read all year. My mind is numb.

That’s a lot of dumb to sift through …

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

Safe Streets uses ex-felons in an effort to stem crime.

This is the dumbest thing I've read all year. My mind is numb.

probably "sounded" like a great idea, at the time

The Guardian Angels have had some success in NYC using a similar model.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
The Guardian Angels have had some success in NYC using a similar model.

Curtis Sliwa and his 17 cats … in a 300 sq ft apt, or Rudy Guilliani + 60k cops and a no broken windows program?

I see the problem with the program. They didn't send in social workers to provide security.

Curtis Sliwa !! Have not heard that name in decades. Their berets were so cute.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
He is 67 and running for Mayor.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

Safe Streets uses ex-felons in an effort to stem crime.

This is the dumbest thing I've read all year. My mind is numb.

Try 're-imagined felons'.

I hope that helps.