A Brooklyn police captain has an unusual method for preventing crime among young people, including paying them $150 to participate in a ...
A Brooklyn police captain has an unusual method for preventing crime among young people, including paying them $150 to participate in a 'healing circle' - even as gun crime skyrockets in New York City in 2022.
Capt. Derby St. Fort, the commanding officer of the city's 61st Precinct, was inspired by a shooting by a rival gang that killed 17-year-old Devonte Lewis last April.
The school Lewis attended already was meant to be a haven for teenage offenders seeking second chances.
He responded to it by doing something considered unconventional among officers: asking for help from the public. 'People got shot, people were getting caught with guns, and I felt like there was urgency,' said St. Fort
NYPD Captain Derby St. Fort, who runs the 61st Precinct of the force in Brooklyn
St. Fort and an anti-violence coalition partnered with community activists to reach out to 15 of the boys who were close to the gang rivalry involving Lewis to meet up each week for a discussion led by a therapist at a local community center.
The healing circle was put together using prior arrest records, which helped identify those close to the Lewis shooting.
Kenton Kirby, the therapist involved in the sessions, discusses experiences with violence and police, what they learn in school and what they need to learn to be productive adults with the teens.
'For young black kids, there's not been many spaces for redemption,' Kirby said. 'And to have this opportunity to create that framework, I think, is really powerful.'
Each teenager was given a $150 stipend for their participation; they had Caribbean food at a recent session.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams
St. Fort's program has drawn interest from Adams, who said they'll be monitoring to see if it can be replicated
The stipend number is, organizers argue, one-tenth of the cost of keeping someone in prison for a day. They add that money is not taken from police funding to pay the teens.
We Build the Block Executive Director Dana Rachlin, who runs the campaign behind the circle, said that it costs $30,000 for 16 weeks of meetings and has been funded by private donations.
As a contrast, the NYPD spent $600,000 to renovate a basketball court in the area.
'All these kids need is opportunity,' said Ellis 30. 'An opportunity would help save a lot of crime in the city. Just by getting the kids off the street for a few hours every week. Things like that could change a kid's life.'
In the four months since the group therapy sessions began, none of the 15 boys has been arrested.
'We can address gun violence differently than what we're doing,' Captain St. Fort said. 'We can have direct contact with the kids who are involved.'
Criminologists are saying that further study is needed to see if the program can be replicated.
'If someone's carrying a gun, they've already said, 'Whatever, I can do my five years upstate,' said James Mulvaney, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. 'And you're saying, here's $150. Is that going to change things? No.'
And teens who have gone to the sessions but not continued attending still have been in trouble with the law. Two teenagers who briefly visited the circle were arrested last week in connection with a shooting at a local mall.
Still, St. Fort's efforts are being noticed in New York where, like many cities, crime has risen recently.
Biden spoke during a meeting with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and officers at NYPD headquarters in Manhattan Thursday
New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell
Biden's visit comes as almost every metric of major crime is on the rise in New York City
In an email to the New York Times, a spokesman for new Mayor Eric Adams said the city is monitoring this and other programs to see how they can be used across the Big Apple.
St. Fort believes that the tools used to put together the healing circle can be used to identify potential offenders and those who are at risk of facing violence themselves.
He adds that not every police commander has to do what he does but they could require officers to refer young people arrested on gun charges to programs that offer them help and job training.
According to the most recently available crime data of the week ending on January 30, crime is up across the board in New York City compared to this time last year, with a 37 percent increase in overall crimes.
Felony assaults are up since newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg assumed office at the start of the year, with 1,671 incidents recorded by the NYPD - nearly 200 more from last year. Shootings and robberies are also up, by more than 30 percent. Citywide reported rapes, meanwhile, increased by a staggering 26.5 percent.
Last month, Adams unveiled a 'Blueprint to End Gun Violence' to address shootings and cemented an alliance with President Joe Biden to work on the issue when President Joe Biden visited Thursday.
Biden spoke during a meeting with Adams and officers at NYPD headquarters in Manhattan Thursday.
Biden's administration has been unable to get gun control legislation through the GOP-controlled Senate despite recent high-profile shootings
Slain NYPD officer Wilbert Mora casket is carried at the completion of a funeral service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York Wednesday, February 2, 2022. Mora was shot and killed after responding to a domestic dispute call in the Harlem neighborhood of New York on Jan. 21 with his partner Jason Rivera, who was also fatally wounded. Rivera was laid to rest last week
Hundreds of police officers gather for the funeral of fallen NYPD officer Wilbert Mora at St. Patrick's Cathedral on February 02, 2022 in New York City
Demonstrators hold a sign reading "Defund the police" during a protest over the death of a Black man, Daniel Prude, after police put a spit hood over his head during an arrest on March 23, in Rochester, New York, U.S. September 6, 2020. Biden made a case for boosting funds to help communities hire law enforcement and social workers
Biden called out defunding efforts during the presidential campaign, even as progressive forces pushed rolling back investments in policing in the wake of George Floyd protests. .
'We are not about defunding – we are about funding and providing the additional services you need beyond someone with a gun strapped to their hip,' he said Thursday.
'We need more social workers we need mental health workers. We need more people – when you're called on these scenes, someone's about to jump off a roof is not just someone standing there with a with a weapon is someone who also knows how to talk to people talk them down,' Biden said.
Biden visited New York Police Department headquarters, and spoke at a Gun Violence Strategies Partnership attended by Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and local elected officials.
His trip came after thousands turned out to morn NYPD officer Wilbert Mora, 27, who was slain responding to a call in Harlem last month. His partner, Detective Jason Rivera, 22, was also killed in the shooting, 14 months after he joined the department.
'Their futures were cut short by a man with a stolen Glock and a 40 round magazine,' Biden said.
Also attending was U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
'As I close I want to note, as in times of crises, both large and small the American people look to law enforcement every day like the heroes who are with us today,' Garland said in his remarks.
The White House this week announced new plans meant to reduce gun crime. It included Justice Department initiatives to direct prosecutors to focus on violent crime strategies, crack down on the 'iron pipeline' of illegal guns transported from southern states to New York and other areas, and focus on privately manufactured 'ghost guns' and illegal sellers.
Biden's effort to talk up funds for police comes as Republicans are seeking to tag him as 'soft' on crime and a cause of the crime spike.
Republican National Committee chairman Ronna McDaniel released a statement saying: 'Joe Biden and Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies have emboldened criminals in Democrat-run cities across the country.'
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