“Violence Interrupters” — A Story You Can’t Make Up

What in the world is a “violence interrupter”? If you thought that might be a euphemism for a law enforcement officer—or maybe a prison guard—you’d be wrong. Here’s what Wikipedia says it is: “Violence interruption is a community-based approach to reducing communal and interpersonal violence that treats violence as a public health problem. Individuals providing violence interruption services are known as violence interrupters.” 

OK, sounds a little nutty but probably harmless  —  until you see the rest of it, courtesy of Steve Hayward’s note on PowerLine.

Here’s the punchline:

Lots of “violence interrupters” appear to be ex-gang members and other such individuals who have “street cred.” I’m guessing this is what the “defund the police” people have in mind as an alternative to Officer Murphy on the beat. Well, if so it’s not working very well:

DC Violence Interrupter Charged in 2017 Homicide

A violence interrupter with the D.C. Attorney General’s Office is charged in a 2017 homicide, the Metropolitan Police Department said. . .

Police executing a D.C. Superior Court warrant arrested 39-year-old Cotey Wynn of Southeast D.C. Friday, D.C. police said. He is charged with second-degree murder while armed.

Wynn was under Pretrial Services Agency’s supervision when he was arrested, police said. [In other words, he was out on no-bail for some previous offense.] His arrest history includes felony murder, first-degree murder, possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and distribution of a controlled substance. Wynn is an employee and violence interrupter with the attorney general’s Cure the Streets program.

Sounds like Wynn’s experience made him the model employee for the program! Or maybe you can just chalk this up to a new application of the “it takes a thief” theory.

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The woke among us seem to have forgotten that communities have police for a reason.  There are bad guys out there who are not really interested in getting a job and saving up their money.  They’re interested in taking what you have, by stealth if possible but by force if not.  This is not a new or isolated phenomenon; indeed it’s existed worldwide from the beginning of communal life.  You can’t make these guys go away by “re-imagining” police work or implementing “restorative justice,” whatever that means.  You have a chance of making them go away, or at least making them think twice about belting Grandma over the head in order to get her purse, if you have police on the beat who are there to make it possible for her and you to live in peace and under democratically adopted law.

The idea that gang hoodlums can fill this role is part of the insanity that now goes by the name “criminal justice reform.”