Independent Lens

Good morning. all

Morning. This craziness got to stop. Where is the love? We have a violence epidemic in the city of Baltimore. We got 171 dead black people. That's not a state of emergency?

female narrator

When institutions fail to keep the peace, one city looks inward to build a better future. Safe Streets is a public health initiative to reduce shootings and homicide.

narrator

Filmmaker Marilyn Ness goes inside a community determined to break the cycle of violence. This is a dialogue to build understanding between you all. When I first decided I was gonna join, a lot of my friends was just like, "How could you, the way they treat us? They only want to lock us up." Out here we are someone's only last hope. I believe in the future. I believe things is gonna get better for our people.

Can't give up. narrator

"Charm City," now only on Independent Lens.

woman vocalizing

uplifting music

Can't give up. narrator

man speaking indistinctly over radio

Can't give up. narrator

Caller reported two suspects wanted for a homicide. An unknown subject

indistinct

Can't give up. narrator

undercover. Subjects are two number-one males, went into an unknown house. I have no further--no callback on this. I just seen they had everything blocked off, taped up. Four people got shot, but the guy... I guess somebody told where he was, so they got him cornered in the house around there. That's why they got all them police cars and everything. And I seen her. Like, she was just sitting up. And, you know, she had a couple people around her holding her, trying to, I guess, talk her through it or whatever. I don't know how bad she was shot, but... There's always something crazy going on. -

scoffs

Can't give up. narrator

Yeah. That's what two of the young people were just telling me. They said, "Mr. C, the more we work," they're like, "The more stuff happen."

music plays over stereo

Can't give up. narrator

-

singing along

Can't give up. narrator

But when you love someone You just don't treat them bad Oh, how I feel so sad Now that I want to leave She's crying her heart to me How could you let this be? I just need time to see -

humming to song

music fades

dog barks

melancholy music

Can't give up. narrator

indistinct chatter

helicopter whirring

Can't give up. narrator

It's like this one.

radio chatter

Can't give up. narrator

-

bellows

Can't give up. narrator

Two minutes. Y'all come on up. Come on up. Come on up a little closer. One minute. All right, y'all, come on up, please. Come on up. Come on up. Come on up a little closer.

train whooshing

emotional music building

Can't give up. narrator

indistinct chatter

all

Of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. -

indistinct

all

. Roll call. Sector one is Brooklyn. Sector two is Cherry Hill. Sector three is Pigtown. Winston's 31, Fan is 32, Perdi's 33, Gregorio 34. Dear heavenly Father, thank you for another blessed day. Just give us all the courage and strength to walk through this day without no worries, face no problems. In your name I pray, amen. Amen. - Thank you for the prayer. So last night the shooter was caught in this neighborhood. You're not gonna shoot our children, man. If you shoot a child and I tell on you, that's not snitching, okay? If me and you rob a bank together and I get caught and I tell on you, that's snitching, all right? If my brother is walking down the street with me and somebody kill him and I tell on him, that's love, okay? So if your mind says look, that--that somebody can come up and kill your son in front of you, and you don't say nothing because you ain't no snitch, okay, I don't understand your definition, all right? How can you call yourself a man and you let somebody kill a child in front of you, and you act like you don't see it? How can you live with yourself? It's not gonna happen in front of me, I'm telling you. Where is the love? I'm trying to say something to y'all, man. This craziness got to stop. Meeting adjourned, fellas. Adjourned. All right.

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chatter, laughter

soft ambient music

all

Yeah. Mr. C truly helps people. There you go. There you go. Yeah, you be

inaudible

all

. Honestly, the main reason I chose working with Mr. C for four years was 'cause I seen the difference in the community. Don't let them trick y'all into doing more than you agreed to. So learn how to negotiate the--a good contract up front. He's, in my eyes, social service in this community. This is one of my son's friends. He is missing. I want to see if anybody can find out anything. Anethio. I know for a fact he give people bus fare every day. He done got people jobs. He done got them training. He done sent them to counseling because he viewed his community as his family, so as my family, if you messed up, I messed up. A blistering report is released by the Department of Justice about the Baltimore City Police Department. The probe started following the death of Freddie Gray in April of 2015. It sharply criticizes officers for using excessive force and discriminating against African-Americans. This is the first step toward reform to one of the nation's largest police departments.

indistinct chatter

all

Attention 1, 34, and 3. I have a disorderly and family disturbance, anonymous caller, might be a domestic disturbance inside the second floor unit. One subject is a number-two male, mid-40s, gray hair, locked up by the police last week. When I first decided I was gonna join, a lot of my friends was just like, "Oh, I can't "talk to you no more 'cause you gonna be those boys. "How could you, the way they treat us? They only want to lock us up, and they only--" so I see things two-folded. Most times people don't like police, of course, because have that right to take your freedom away, and then on the flip side, growing up in the neighborhood, in the areas that I did, it wasn't fun either. You know, so what about the greater things that we do? Out here where--so you are someone's only last hope. It could be that one you got to talk off the ledge because they feel like they just can't go another day. It could be that one that you can talk into treatment because you let her see and make her understand, "Your kids need you." So in my mind, I feel like we have to have a broader way of looking at things.

Taser crackling

all

Hi, how's everybody going? It was a pretty long night last night. The victim was shot and killed in the 40 block of South Payson Street.

The home invasion last night came out at 1

30, but my main thing is that we back each other up. Yeah, we were excited about our handgun. They weren't killing us. - Oh, yeah.

indistinct chatter

The home invasion last night came out at 1

Oh, wow. Holy

bleep

The home invasion last night came out at 1

. Who wrote the warrant? - Scotty Too Hottie. Scotty Too Hottie? - Scotty Too Hottie. Is that your first one, Scotty? The first one here. - Good stuff. Hey, thank you, sir.

indistinct chatter

The home invasion last night came out at 1

Granted, we're not actually a war zone, but some of the weapons that are on the street are weapons that they should only be in, you know, war zone capacities, but they're here in the city. But you still have to be able to go out and continue to do this job.

indistinct radio chatter

The home invasion last night came out at 1

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indistinct

The home invasion last night came out at 1

Mary 6-0-7-9. 10-4. What's your location now? 1800 McHenry, coming up to South Monroe. 10-4,

inaudible

The home invasion last night came out at 1

. All right, it's pulling over right now, so I'm gonna light it up. I have 34 in front of me. 34, come around front. 10-4.

radio chatter

The home invasion last night came out at 1

Driver, put your hands out the window. Put your hands out the window. Driver, put your hands out the window. Take your left hand and open the door from the outside. Slowly exit the vehicle. Turn around. Face away from me. We got one on the other side? - Yeah, you got one. Exit the vehicle. Let me see your hands. Keep your hands up. - He was just-- Turn away from me. Stand right there. Walk backwards and drop your cigarette. -

inaudible

The home invasion last night came out at 1

okay so far? 34, 10-4. - Whose car is this? My mom and dad's. - Your mom and dad's?

both

When's the last time you seen them? Probably about a two days ago. A two days ago? - I don't know. 'Cause this car's coming back as stolen. Okay, thanks.

somber ambient music

both

31-8, pick anything up on our subjects? -

indistinct

man coughing

both

09. What's that? Cool.

whistling to tune of "Camptown Races"

indistinct radio chatter

both

...the entire network for a hit and run. That's 51 minutes long.

radio chatter

music plays through speakers

both

Good. I don't need that.

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laughs

cell phone rings

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panting

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Hey, Ms. Jackson. I'll find out. I know that they were booked up with tickets already. I'll--but yeah, I'll--let's talk about it more later. I'm gonna finish. I got a--I got another hill to run, and then I'll give you a call back-- All right, you go ahead and get--get those hills a-run, and you get you the hill to run, and all the other--

music playing over headphones

engine starts

both

Baltimore is closing in on 160 homicides, and we're not even halfway through the new year. Police are beefing up patrols, canvassing neighborhoods, doing everything they can to get a hold on the violence. I was born in 1984, and I grew up in a neighborhood in Park Heights, right in front of one of the most notorious public housing places in the city. When you're making the walk that I had to walk from elementary school, seeing the violence, seeing the bodies, seeing people get shot, it changes you. Growing up, my dad was always involved in our school stuff. And you know, my mom was a union worker at Giant Food. My uncles were always talking politics, so they always told me that the only way we're gonna change the system and make things better for--for people like us, where we grew up from, what we came from, is through politics. Couple of significant deficits for police, mainly driven by overtime deficit, so that spending is expected to be in excess of 40 million. Is it still correct that the majority of this overtime has been driven by the fact that we don't have the proper resources to fill that patrol schedule? Yes, sir. Our requirement is 1,200 positions. We are about 300 positions down. I tie overtime directly into reducing crime, and right now the murders are off the hook. The shootings are off the hook. Carjackings are off the hook, and I'm not happy. I have not spoken out because I'm trying to give the police department the chance to get it right. I mean, I don't mind paying overtime if I'm gonna see the benefits. I'm not seeing the benefits. I would rather put that money into our school system to teach our kids preventive stuff so we won't have to hire all these police officers. You know, I mean, it just sickens me that every time we have the budget hearing, the police department, even though we give them more than we give any other agency in the city, is draining us. You know, I'm pissed with the police department.

mic feedback

both

Councilwoman Sneed? Thank you, Chairman. I just want to piggyback, if those...

voice fades

Morning. all

G'morning. Let's try it again.

Good morning. all

Morning! Thank you. Notice I said thank you. You're welcome. Announcements, anybody, about anything? We went to the movies yesterday to see "Ant Man," had a blast. We took 40 people, so we going next Tuesday.

Friday at 8

00 I'll be showing a movie up on my block on a projector. We gonna have a cookout too, so I want y'all to sign a list if y'all coming so I know how many people we gonna have there. Right. Right now John Hopkins is doing some hiring for housekeepers. The city is doing some hiring for rat patrol. So if you don't have no--no problem with the rats, right, then you can go there and get you a job for $12 an hour. Rat patrol. - Where you--where you go at? Where do you go to sign--you sign up for that? You go down to Holliday Street and tell them you want to--you want to --

R-A-T. both

Rat. Rat? Oh. - Rat. Yeah. - We already see how y'all act at night when the rats come out. Yeah. All right, the biggest, baddest man get his hustle on. -

laughs

R-A-T. both

All right, thank y'all for listening to me, okay? Meeting adjourned. Adjourned.

indistinct chatter

Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" plays

R-A-T. both

Annie, are you okay? -

laughs

R-A-T. both

Mr. C. - Hey, hey. Are you okay, Annie?

chattering

R-A-T. both

Are you okay? Are you okay, Annie? You've been hit by, you've been hit by I feel for kids because a lot of the opportunities that I had growing up, these kids have none of those, no rec centers. There's six schools that shut down this year. Nobody else cares. This seem like this don't even matter, you know? Like, I don't know what the issue is. There's just no way you have 171 people die in a seven-month time span and that's the norm, that's okay. Like, anywhere else, 171 white people die, that's not a state of emergency? We got 171 dead black people. They give us a new commissioner.

helicopter whirring

R-A-T. both

Oh! No, not my game. Not my game! No. No.

all

Happy birthday to you - Josh. Happy birthday to you Happy birthday dear Joshua

cheering

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Yeah! - It's another year! Hey, Joshua! Yeah!

children chattering

movies playing indistinctly

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screaming

baby crying

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Get off of me! Get off of me!

baby crying

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Get up! Somebody hurting her. -

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Come on!

overlapping shouting

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Stop!

crying

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Y'all! I don't want him touching me! Don't

bleep

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put your hands on me. Get off! - You all right, mama? Go in the house and change his diaper. I can't! He keep putting his hands on me.

baby crying

overlapping chatter

crying

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I ain't touching you! Hey, all the kids--kids, let's go this way. All the kids, yo.

overlapping chatter

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All kids go this way. - This way.

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Hey, slick. Hey, you Jamaican? Antonio. Mm-hmm, that would have been a whole lot differently if the camera wasn't out here.

laughs softly

all

Y'all just don't know. Yeah. So I'm glad y'all was. Whoa.

indistinct radio chatter

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In that zone that we are assigned to, you're a slave to the radio. You're just answering calls for service one after the other, one after the other, one after the other. 10-4

indistinct

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... So it can be--jumping out the gate, it can be slow. Then it will pick up. It all depends on what the-- what the people want to do today.

radio chatter

sirens wailing

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It's just an allegation. Second floor, 307, he's breathing. It's just shallow. Somebody gave him Narcan already. This is where we found him. Jay, you need to get up now. Hey, listen, you got to sit up. That Narcan only lasts about 40 minutes. Heroin lasts a lot longer than that. Move up to the bed

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. -

mumbles

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What's going on today, Ms. Maria? Oh, man. Yeah, it's--oh, Oh, so Facebook. - Yeah, Facebook. Wait, that's her? - Yeah. So he's basically using your phone, talking to another female. Yeah, no, using my cell--my laptop, but it's okay. I don't care, but I-- It's not okay. - But how do you do it? No, it's not okay. I mean, I told him I'd give him two weeks. We've been married for 27-- You want to block her? You can block her. Yeah. - All right.

keyboard clacking

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You're already processed it? I'm waiting for the state's attorney to call me. Oh, you already sent it over? - Yeah. You want to watch a video now? Yeah, well, let me

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wind blowing

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Got that gun in the book bag. I already called that. I already know. There's the bag. That's where he took off. - He kept there the whole time. And I said that to PC, he's just, like, staring, like-- - He's got that

bleep

all

. no eye contact, no nothing. Is Will here? William? I got him. You got him? - Yeah. All right. Number-one male, white shirt, blue sweatpants. On the ground! Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Turn over. Turn over. He's, like, just dying at this point. I'll tilt you back up. What, so you're just supposed leave a bag with a gun in it?

phone rings

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This is the state's attorney right now. He doesn't go to school, so... - Officer Winston. Hello? - Yes, ma'am. Hi, this is the attorney's office. How are you? - Doing well. How are you? Good. I just have a few questions and a couple changes I need to make--have you make. The juvenile, is he a-- - Yes. Is he able to be charged as an adult? No, we can't charge him with anything. That was not a good search.

inaudible

all

, he's not one of the people that you guys were looking for, and you see him put down the bag. You guys didn't have the right to just pick it up and start feeling it. But--right, yeah, once he came off the property, he left the bag there. The owner said that he didn't know whose bag it was, so at that point it's unattended property. No, it's not unattended if he was--I mean, he's right there. Mm-kay. - All right, thank you. Buh-bye. - All right, bye. So--so basically I'm supposed to ask the guy that put the book bag down that didn't want us to see him with the book bag-- - Right. I'm supposed to ask him, "Hey, is this your bag?" which he's gonna say, "No." He's gonna say no. Yeah. - And then I'm gonna alarm him that I'm about to look in the bag. Exactly. - So he can start running. Exactly. - Great, great tactics.

phone ringing

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Yes, ma'am? I just got off the phone with him.

voice fades

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Mom? I don't know why he is so spoiled like that.

door closes

indistinct chatter

footsteps descending stairs

baby fussing

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And they be peaceful at first. They be cool, and then somebody get in they mind that it's a good idea to try to make some money right here. It's a quiet block. Ain't too much traffic, so you know? That's just where we at. A couple guys and--figured that it might be a good idea, and we've been going about trying to show them that it's not a good idea. And, like, I tell them, "You all right. "You got every right to do what you gotta to eat, "but you got to have some type of consideration for these kids "who, truthfully, been here before you, "and technically got the right to the block 'cause they live here." So, you know, when there be cases like that, I just been taking it amongst myself to just go holler at the guys. Oh, you been recording? See if we can work something up. Hey, y'all. -

laughing

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This my little sister right here. How y'all doing? I's Ashley. Babe special ed. How y'all doing today, center people? How y'all doing? All right.

soft music

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Good morning, good morning, good morning. Good morning. So you can go down on Luzerne. I grew up on North and Castle in East Baltimore all the way up until I was eight. My childhood was good though. I really didn't have no complaints until the drugs kicked in, more on my mom end than my dad's. Like, she just wasn't strong enough to, you know, be able to take that and shake it off and be able to balance, so it pretty much destroyed her. At that time my dad had got arrested on drug charges, so he was gone for, like, six years. Hey, 'Nicio, sweep this glass up behind me. It was just me and my two sisters, Ashley, Alexis. At that point our lights was off, gas was off, and before I knew it, I see my neighbor pulled me up like, "Yeah, if she don't come home in the next day or two, I'ma call CPS 'cause y'all shouldn't be in there by y'all selves." But yeah, they had to separated us and everything in foster care. I ain't seen them for, like, six years. And then we moved together, but I ended up getting arrested, so we got separated again. I don't have no bitterness or anger towards my parents. It was just, like, the everyday story where I was from 'cause most of my homeboys' parents was kind of in the same boat. I'll see you Sunday. What time y'all coming back Sunday?

So we'll be back by 11

00. Let me know when you get there. I will. Y'all better be on your best behavior. Yeah, I'm not playing. Those clouds are gorgeous. Girl, we have such a gorgeous city. I don't even get to enjoy it. 1300 Alice to

inaudible

So we'll be back by 11

104. Hey. - Hey. So you is my mister who I keep getting complaints on that's out here selling needles, huh? Me? - Oh, yes, yes, yes, sir. You have identification? I get it. I get it. Yeah, it is. My uncle died from it. I know absolutely 100-- 50 million percent positive, yes, I do.

radio beeps

So we'll be back by 11

I'm gonna be in the 1800 block of McHenry. Can you run a 29 for me?

lightning crackling

So we'll be back by 11

I'm gonna go in that little grocery store and kick out all those drug dealers that are staying dry. If they want to make money, they got to get wet. I'm not gonna keep chasing you off the same stoop. They don't want you in there. This the same ones, the usual ones? -

inaudible

So we'll be back by 11

. - All right. So I grew up in a small town. It was, like, a small suburb, and I didn't know anybody who used heroin or anything or, you know--or crack, and here it's just everywhere. So it was a culture shock at first, coming into Baltimore, seeing--seeing this out here 'cause I mean, some of this stuff just-- it just blows my mind, just seeing how some people ha--are forced to live. 34. She's last seen standing right in front of 405 South Monroe by the Beacon House. All right, 10-4, I'm 2-3, 1061. 10-4. Hey, what's going on? - Somebody got to do something about this house 'cause me and my husband were just sitting here minding our business. We call the police several times about the junkies going in there. Uh-huh. - This girl come through the window, threw all these bricks out. Oh, she threw the bricks out the window? 'Cause they could have hit us. Oh, okay. They're trying to get into my yard, and nobody going in it, and there's two females and a male. Oh, that's bad. - Then I told them get the

bleep

So we'll be back by 11

out from there. All night they making all kind of noise. Right. - Y'all have to do something, please. This is ridiculous.

flies buzzing

So we'll be back by 11

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coughs

So we'll be back by 11

You got a nice little drug chair set up there, vials, needle caps. Well, you would need to find out who owns the house because even if I catch people in there and I don't have a owner, if I arrest them, nothing's gonna happen. They're gonna go to court. And it's gonna get dropped 'cause nobody's gonna go-- nobody's gonna go to court. - Right. I understand. Believe it or not, the city has been tearing down a lot of the vacants that are dilapidated. - Not down here. Well, they're working their way--actually, believe it not, they got 1700 and 1100-- Young guy--young girl died in here. You should know that. - I was there, yeah. And a little young girl died in Laundromat. I understand. - If I shoot somebody, then you gonna arrest me. - Don't shoot anybody. If somebody barge in your house, what are you gonna do? - Oh, d-- Oh, I thought you were saying if they're outside. No, if they're coming in, I'm gonna shoot them. Mm-hmm. - I'm gonna cut them open. Don't cut them open. You gonna stand there and just look at them? I didn't say that, but-- No, I said don't shoot anybody outside. Don't do anything like that. No, I'll be taking it inside if I can. No, don't take it-- - No, I'm not telling you to take somebody inside and shoot them. That's what I'm tired of. I know. I know you're tired of it.

thunder rumbles

So we'll be back by 11

All right, just to clarify, they weren't throwing bricks at the complainants. They were throwing them out a window onto the ground, and people were down

inaudible

So we'll be back by 11

. Could you order up a board-up for this location for the rear and the second floor?

radio chatter

So we'll be back by 11

That's just sad. You know, it's like I think at some point we're gonna get to a point where black males 15 to, like, 35 is-- is gonna be a very, very low existence, you know? But we're just one community. I just wonder when--you know, when do we get tired? Just say enough is enough. My family life is unique in my dad was actually killed by his brother when I was about 2, 2 1/2, so with my mom being a young girl, now it makes her a single mom, she really didn't really know how to deal with that, so my mom used one coping mechanism to another, from marijuana to cocaine to alcohol to crack, ultimately to heroin and a mixture of methadone which eventually left--led her to her demise, which was an overdose. So... once I had my kids, I pretty much just was like, "I have to take them away from this environment."

melancholy music

So we'll be back by 11

A lot of us had grown up through some of the same circumstances, and somebody reached out and helped us as well, so we try to do the same in whatever capacity that we can. So I know all little ones are going in the house, correct? Because none of y'all belong outside.

It's 12

00. You're gonna take a picture of her ID. You're gonna take a picture of her registration, and you're gonna take a picture of her insurance, okay?

distant gunshot

distant gunshots

It's 12

I heard it too. That was not. 31.

sirens wailing

It's 12

10-4.

radio chatter

It's 12

Is the sergeant here? - What's up, buddy? I want to speak to the sergeant. What's going on? The dude's shot down there, man, and I'm trying to get him to take his shirt off so we can at least put water on it or alcohol patch

bleep

indistinct

It's 12

bleeding. Try to stop the blood. Hey, Harda, you want to go knock on this door right here? 'Cause the dude's looking out the window. Maybe he heard some gunshots behind his house, like a normal person.

knocking

dog barking

inaudible

It's 12

All right, thank you. There's a belief system that the streets has implanted in our young people. We got to change those belief systems.

crowd murmurs "Yes"

It's 12

Before I go, I'm not gonna be the only one woke. Amen.

applause

It's 12

Even though it's my son, but you all my sons! Preach! - Yeah, amen!

applause

It's 12

Our young people are dying at such a tremendous rate.

crowd murmurs affirmatively

It's 12

But they struggling because the streets that they gave them so many false belief systems, and they are not challenging those belief systems. They're not even examining those belief systems. They've taken it for face value, and they're saying, "This what it is." Because it's--because you can see does not make it normal. Amen.

applause

It's 12

Y'all got to fight. - Yes. You got to fight for your lives. You got to learn how to live all over again, and you got to have somebody who has already done it to take you by the hand and teach you and walk you through that process. It's okay to wake up 20, 30 years later and say, "Look, man, I don't know how to live." We ain't afraid to die. We afraid to live. Yeah! - Amen! If you know this song, help me sing it. Put your hands together and praise to our God. We gonna give the Lord some praise. Come on! - He deserves the praise. Give him some praise! - Every praise Every praise is to our God Every word of worship One accord Every praise - Every praise Every praise - Every praise Is to our God Come on, let me hear you, let me hear you. Every praise is to our God Every word of worship One accord Every praise - Every praise Every praise - Every praise Is to our God Sing hallelujah

all

Hallelujah To our God Sing hallelujah Sing hallelujah To our God - Every praise

singing fades

solemn music

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On Mondays we read the names of the people who lost their lives to violence in the previous week. We stand in witness to their untimely deaths, and we remember their families and friends. Age 23, Thomas Carter, age 42, Brian Basemore, age 41,

overlapping names

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...Age 22, Charles McGee, age 23, Dwayne Dorsey, age 27.

overlapping speech

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sirens wail

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I'ma go to a--a particular hot spot, right? So we're gonna go over to West Baltimore. So it's everything. - The reds are shootings. The blacks are homicides, right? Uh-huh. - The browns are dirty alleys. The greens are crimes and call for serving narcotics, so every time you see a black, what do you see? Yeah. You see everything else, right? When you see a red, that--that's the key, because when--every time you see, you see all the other stuff, right? Uh-huh. - So if I were in charge, right, we will basically kind of restructure how it happens. Every police commander would have at least, at least a housing inspector that works directly out of their district... - Mm. A health inspector that works directly out of their district. I mean, it makes sense, you know? Employment development and, you know, job training, I mean, that's all--it's all-- - Intertwined. It's all intertwined, exactly. Because it's a generational thing. You look at the young man who was killed by the police in Southwest Baltimore last week. His father's doing 50 years for--for murder right now. What would it look like if we find the sons, the daughters, the cousins, the nephews, or whatever of perpetrators and victims of violence and we do family strengthening, economic success programs with their entire family from the time that kid's in kindergarten, third grade until, like--how would they look-- my guess is that we'll have a lot less incidents of violence because they are 50 times more likely to be in that life. So those are the kind of things I'm gonna be pushing them on tomorrow.

phone ringing

paper shuffles

reflective music

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Oh, yeah, yeah. - He's always not far behind.

indistinct chatter

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Good evening, everyone. Tonight's hearing is on city council resolution 17-002R, coordinated agency violence reduction strategy. This resolution is one that I introduced because as we know, we have a violence epidemic in the city of Baltimore, and for far too long in our city we have been looking at violence just through a lens of the police department, and we know and it's been proven that we were wrong in that. We have been wrong. So as you can see, these are the number of homicides in the city going back to the year 2000.

voice fades

all

A fight is breaking out on an East Baltimore street. But the guys running to intervene are there to de-escalate. A woman with a shovel is arguing with a man. Don't--don't take that. Someone knocks our camera away, but we still saw the situation brought under control. The main thing that we did was really cool everybody down. We asked the guy that was involved to just take a ride, just leave. Alex Long works for Safe Streets. His job and that of his coworkers is to step in to simmering conflict before violence breaks out. Their results get noticed, considering Baltimore's high rate of violence. In three of the areas where the program is working, there hasn't been a fatal shooting in a year.

For the 11

00 News Eye team, I'm Jane Miller. Would y'all please join me in welcoming Safe Streets? Hey, you want to come over here?

applause

Good afternoon. all

Good afternoon. Safe Streets is a public health initiative to reduce shootings and homicides. So what we do is we go into these neighborhoods, and we hire credible messengers. Most of the guys that work for the Safe Streets program been locked up for murder charges, drug charges. They was drug dealers, all kind of stuff, but now they done turned they life around, and they go back into their own neighborhood to do conflict mediations, but one of the misconstrepancies of the program is when we on the block, we don't go straight on the block telling, "Yo, don't sell drugs today." Right. - Like, that's stupid, because we might lose them that day, you dig what I'm saying? Because we don't know how these people feed theyself, but we saying, like, "Don't be shooting nobody 'cause they stole a stash," and we talking against the violence. I live on Rose and Eager, you know? I'm on Monument and Rose every day. As long as we close doors and we shut down program and take away from them, we give them no choice but to be on these corners doing what they got to do, so we just ask everybody to honestly, man, just be real. These are our sons and our daughters. Don't knock them for what they doing 'cause they screwed up in the head. We get that. Let's get back to helping each other out, you know what I'm saying? That's what it's gonna take. Ain't nobody gonna help us. We've really got to help each other, man. Absolutely. - So

inaudible

Good afternoon. all

. When I see Alex, I see a son. When I see him with a Safe Street t-shirt on, oh, man, I just feel... Proud is a understatement. He has a understanding of the community, that it's a difficult place sometimes, and sometimes it's easy for violence to erupt. Even though he was doing it at Rose Street, now he can do it and also be compensated. You know, it helps him pay the bills, and it helps him eat. That's amazing. Look at how... Now I need help with 12 times-- so 8 goes into t--that's 16? Eight times two equals...? Cut the TV off. - What else is new? You can't concentrate. Eight times two equals-- With anything that you want to do that's meaningful, there's a burden. You know, how am I gonna do this? That's the first thing on your mind, you know, because nobody can really teach you. You know, they can give you instructions and information, but it has to land on something, something that's already in you. For Alex, it's landing in his heart, where he has the desire, so that's a burden. But he need those burdens to grow. Oh, so 9 times 2 is 18. Split the variables. - No, you don't--

soft music

Good afternoon. all

Police are asking the community for any information linked to a deadly triple shooting in East Baltimore that happened just this afternoon. Baltimore city police officer is in stable condition after being shot in the lower abdomen. The three-year veteran of the force was in surgery for hours Sunday. A double shooting in East Baltimore leaves one man dead and a neighborhood on edge. It happened on East Preston Street--

indistinct chatter, laughter

Good afternoon. all

Mr. C's been sick from his diabetes, and he's been gone for, like, a month or so now, so... just seen a whole bunch of things transpire with his absence and everything in the neighborhood. You know, there's been three homicides so far in less than a week, but just trying to be--kind of figure out how to keep my kids safe. Yeah. - So hopefully after it starts to break warm, it kind of calm down, but until then I just keep everybody in my prayers 'cause it's--it's just a lot for a person.

distant yelling

Good afternoon. all

I need 15 pushups from everybody. - Oh, yeah. One. Count them out. Three. - Four.

both

Five, six, seven. -

indistinct

both

, lower your butt. Seven. When I was a 15-year-old kid, my foster parent sent me and my little sister, Ashley, to the Family Dollar in Dogwood Station. So I go to the store, and we racin' back. Police see me running, and I become a suspect. Description say person had on all black with a gray hoodie. I got on orange and blue New York Knicks jersey, orange and blue boots, blue jeans, and a orange coat, but it's me 'cause I'm running. He say--he go, "Your heart's beating fast, so you scared." I said, "No, my heart's beating fast "'cause I'm running, and if I was scared, "it's because you just grabbed me for nothing, "talking about I robbed somebody, so there your answers for your questions." He was like, "Yeah, you're a wiseass. I got my man." Ow! - See, there you go. I was charged with armed robbery, kidnapping. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

indistinct chatter

both

All right, catch y'all breath, catch y'all breath. You know, I went in a little, you know, 15-year-old kid and came out, like, 260. I was a child with a adult record that did adult time, and I got adult size. Uh-huh. One, two, three. That's how kids are today. Most of these kids has grown up, they been through so much trauma. They done seen their mother get abused by every man she ever been with. They done seen they brother get beat down and harassed. That was good. - Yes, I'm first. You see what I'm saying, so they don't have nothing to look forward to. We got to get to them young. We wait until they 16, 17, we--we dropped the ball. We waited too long, and that's what we do too many times. We sit back, and we create monsters. You all ready? - Yes. Come on, y'all. - It's cold outside. I'm gonna race somebody. But that's why I do what I do with the kids, you know what I'm saying? I'm doing it beforehand, before they get to the point where they feel like, "Yo, I got to kill you."

indistinct speech

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My name Alex Long. I work with Safe Streets. I'm out here on my morning patrol. That's my little sister over there, and as usual, constant, constant

bleep

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. We had three homicides yesterday. I wonder how many of these officers even stopped or caught anybody doing any of these homicides, how these officers know anything about any homicides or anything, but they'll stop a person for driving on a permit coming from work in front of your own house. You can't even pull me over.

indistinct

indistinct chatter

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Don't worry, I--Alexis, I got it on camera. Alexis, I got it on camera. -

indistinct

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for harassment, Harassment is what you doing every damn day. Ma'am, you're being disorderly now, and you need to calm down. Disorderly? - Ma'am, you're being disorderly. You're gonna have to calm down. Don't worry, Alexis. This is how they treat black people, especially after Freddie Gray. It's officers like this that sit around all day while black people get murdered and do nothing. -

speaking indistinctly

both

And you got to go through all this just to try to make a honest living. In our community, it's too much policing but not enough justice.

helicopter whirring

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So the guy we got before, he was a juvenile. Got him with a handgun in the backpack. State's attorney pretty much said we had to drop the case because of an illegal search, but today we got the same person with another handgun inside the car. Hopefully they'll--they'll let it stick this time. I mean, you can lock up the same dude every single day. He'll just be right back out there doing the same thing he was doing the day before, so it's frustrating. You'll get more time with somebody with traffic than you will with a handgun and drugs. I mean, it makes no sense, honestly, but that's where we are. Okay, did they drop the case? They didn't drop it this time. They didn't drop it this time? They didn't drop it this time. Did you mention the time we got him with the gun and they dropped that one? - They know about that one. What'd they say? - They didn't say nothing. They didn't say nothing? - No. Okay. Good job, buddy. That's the one we got today. - That's a good grab. That was a good grab. I feel good now. I feel like some redemption from last time. All right.

radio show jingle

both

Tuesday's very heated city council public committee hearing voted five to two to advance the mandatory gun sentencing bill to the full council. Originally the bill called for a one-year mandatory sentence for anyone caught with an illegal handgun. Now we're gonna turn to councilman Brandon Scott. He voted against the measure. Mr. Scott, if not mandatory sentencing, in your mind, what are the elements of a comprehensive plan to address the violence in our city? Oh, it's everything. It's everything from education to employment and workforce development, health. In my--in my opinion, gun violence is a disease, and it should be treated as such. It's a health--it's a health disease. Young men in this city are growing up, and their fathers and their brothers have all been the victims of gun violence, and we don't intercede in that, and that's what we have to start doing so that it doesn't just fall at the foot of the police. We are a--we're asking our police officers to do way too much. We're asking them to be social service people, health providers. They don't need to do that. We have to look at public safety as a--and gun violence as a disease and attack it from a public health point of view. What about the folks who say, "But that is a long-term, "perhaps a generational st--" - It's not just a long-term--so-- - "A generational approach. What are we gonna do about what's happening right now?" So this is--two things. One, this bill isn't gonna do anything for right now. You know, I just want to go on the record of letting people know that anyone that says that, "Oh, threatening a hardened criminal "and a killer in Baltimore city with a year gun crime is gonna make them not carry a gun," is losing their mind. They're insane. It's just not gonna happen, but public health approaches are also immediate. Safe Streets is a public health approach, and it's been shown to have great results in reducing shootings in their areas by 26% and mediating and preventing Lord knows how many more. Those are the things of--some of the things that we should be doing immediately. Councilman, thanks for your time. I appreciate it, sir. Thank you. - Coming up after break, Dr. Kaye Weiss Whitehead of Loyola University Maryland and Liz Copeland of the Er--

radio shuts off

both

Gee, Minetti. Phew.

radio alarm ringing

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Bennett and Fremont, Bennett and Fremont. Baltimore city homicide detective Sean Suiter was pronounced dead Thursday. He was just 43 years old. Detective Suiter was killed in a violent part of West Baltimore. He was shot in the head with his own gun. He was gunned down one day before he was set to testify in a federal corruption case against fellow officers.

solemn music

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Sometimes, as best as we try to fight against it, it shows up at our doorstep too. The unknown, the million questions of why. I find myself praying and trying to get my composure because it's just beginning to be too much. Two minutes.

Good morning. all

Good morning. Good morning. - Oh, wait a minute. I ain't been gone that long. - A stronger one. He deserve it! - Huh? Yeah, yeah, let's try that again. Good morning. Thank you. Notice I said thank you. You are, absolutely. I want to talk about the lo--when y'all finish, let me know, okay? Now, when y'all--hold it. Hold it. Let me stop for a moment. When y'all come and ask me to do something and you ask me for a favor, I don't disrespect you. Right. - Yes, sir. Don't disrespect me. Right now, son, I'm s--I'm conducting business, so I ain't feeling no kind of way, so don't--don't get it twisted.

light laughter

Good morning. all

But that's the one word I want to bring out this morning, twisted when it comes to love, okay? If you go way back, way back, even if I say I don't like this man, it don't have nothing to do with him. It has something to do with something else. My love got twisted some way along the way. Twisted love cause us to do things, cause us to hate on each other, cause us to take it to the most extreme. Now, when I'm feeling some kind of way, then I need to go to the untwister. They got one of those. Yeah. And who's the untwister? The Almighty, the one that's with you always. He's living inside you daily whether you recognize him or not. So I hope somebody got something out of something that was being said this morning, right? And I want to tell you, right, it's so good to see y'all. It's so good to see my Rose Street family. Meeting adjourned. -

inaudible

Good morning. all

. - Good to see you. Good to see you too. - Love you back. Love you back. - Love you, pop. Great work, pop. - Thank you. Keep me in prayers. - Yes, sir. All right. How you doing, son? -

inaudible

Good morning. all

. - Okay. Look, son. Look at me. I love you too, Pops. - Okay. I heard you, man, clear as day. Okay then. Okay then. You understand me, son? - Yes, sir. All right, then. - Seeing your smiling face helps 'cause I mi--missed you, man. We all missed you, man. I bet you neither one of y'all had nothing to eat this morning. I definitely didn't. Some grits was calling my name. Don't worry about it.

indistinct chatter

light music

Good morning. all

Okay, couple things. One, we got to get back to cleaning the streets. Yes, sir. Y'all didn't do the best job you can do. Yes, sir. - You know that. Yes, sir. - Okay? So, you know, now that I'm back, y'all better work like-- Yes, sir. - You know what I'm saying? Like Michelangelo. -

laughs

Good morning. all

You know him? - Yes, sir. You know him? - The famous painter. All right, boy. Shoot, we know a little something.

keyboard clacking

Good morning. all

Just for confirmation, is OPs also in 12 hours? Yes, everyone. - Okay, I'll let them know. Yes. - I mean, how long, I mean, this is--this is--officers are burnt out. I know. I don't know. I went into roll call yesterday morning. There was only six officers in roll call, six. For day work? - Yes. Midnight shift roll call, there's only, like, four or five people. Yes, there's only, like, four or five. Oh, my God. And now you're telling me on 12 hour shift. Huh? You can get out of here. Do your business with-- Yeah. - I dare you to go in roll call and just tell them it's two more hours and see what happen. - Man. I don't think you gonna make it out. You'll have to scoop him up off the ground. He--right. - "I need a medic." Good evening, ma'am.

indistinct

Good morning. all

469. What do you have in three? 10-4.

band drummers playing

Good morning. all

Like,

we always end about 8

00. All right. All right.

laughs

playing drums rhythmically

we always end about 8

whistle blowing rhythmically

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radio chatter

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Police. If somebody's up there, come out. Standing by.

radio chatter

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10-4, I'm on the other side of bridge.

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34, I'm gonna get out on foot, heading down there.

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-

clears throat

children yelling

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Stop. - Me either. What's up? - What's up? What's going on? - No, listen he gonna get mad-- Stop! Let him talk first, all right? Been nothing but a problem from the very beginning. - Uh-huh. Every time I turn around, he takes off. We tell him not to go here and not to go there, and what's he do? He goes there. - He goes. All right, come on. I'll come talk to you. Hey, puppy.

clicking tongue

we always end about 8

Hey, buddy. Hey. This your puppy? Can I have him? You can have mine. You don't want mine? So what's going on? Let me talk to--let me talk to him real quick so he's not yelling and screaming. So I was standing at the door, and then nothing--I was asking the little girl if she--I'm chasing my dog ran out the door, and then he opened the door, and he literally did this, like, threw me on the couch, and I hit my head, and then I come, say nothing. He's like, "I'm tired of you, you need to get--" and he hit me in my arm

indistinct

we always end about 8

and then his hand did that and moved my face like that, and then--and then, like, yelling at him and telling him to stop hitting me, and then nothing, he say, "I'ma call the police," but he doesn't say nothing to me. Are you supposed to be off the lot? -

indistinct

we always end about 8

to walk down to Busy Bees, and then I come right back, so I'm down at Busy Bees-- You know how far Busy Bees is? No. It's only right around the corner. It's right around the corner, but you know what goes on around here, don't you? So you wonder why they're fussing, right? They don't want you to end up like these other cats out here. They sell dope right out--right down the street. They sell dope right up there. You know that. If you want to go somewhere, let them know where you're going, all right? It's for your safety, right? You know stray bullets have no name, right? They shooting all the time around here, aren't they? Exactly. - Just down the block. Off Payson, right? - Monroe. Monroe? Yup, I was out there. I don't want to see you out here selling dope like these--rest of these cats, all right? I don't want to be out here and I'm looking at your dead body on the side of the street. I shouldn't be called here because you and pops can't get along, right? You think you're gonna be okay tonight? Y'all should be all right tonight, and I'm gonna check on you from time to time, all right? All right, bud. - All right. Most of the time we go to these calls, it's the worst time of that person's life at that moment 'cause obviously we wouldn't be there if they weren't going through something. Honestly, because they're so frequent, it's almost like you get immune to it... honestly.

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we always end about 8

radio chatter

we always end about 8

I've been in here all day and I haven't-- No gunshots? - No gunshots. If you don't have a outlet, you're taking everything home with you. I think there's only one shooting that really sticks with me.

radio chatter

we always end about 8

His mother got shot, like, seven times right in front of the child. The child was just running up the street, down the street screaming, "Not my mom, not my mom."

radio chatter

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That's the only one that's like... I can remember that day. He had to be, like, 12 or 13, so now he's... he doesn't have a mother. One unit at 1--3 Washington Boulevard MLK 31. 31, you said you have a 31 at Washington Boulevard and MLK? 10-4.

sirens wailing

radio chatter, sirens wailing

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Thank you.

laughs

we always end about 8

Don't lie to him. Don't lie to him.

overlapping chatter

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Ah-ah! Hi, everybody.

all

Hello. - So this is a dialogue to build understanding between--between you all. All right, so what request do you have? What do you need from one another or from yourself? - Honesty. So you want people to be honest. Okay. Something that I want both the youth and the police to know is that I think that they have more in common than they think and that the extreme stuff that's being said about the police, all police being bad, all police trying to shoot people, et cetera, et cetera, it's not true, and the extreme stuff that said about the young people, all young people in Baltimore bad, they're trying to kill each other, all that stuff is not true, and only they will repair the relationship between each other. No one else can do that. All right, go. - I'm starting high school, middle school starts up again, so my goal is to be myself 'cause when I was starting middle school, I tried so hard to fit in. I was walking to the store to get something to eat. There was a policeman in a car. I look--I looked at him. I had--I had, like, a little wedgie. So when I looked at him, I went to--I went to pull it out right around the back, but he must have thought I had a gun, so he approached me. He didn't say excuse me or nothing. He just grabbed me, and I responded, so we got into an altercation, so he took me to jail and had to--my father had to get me out. I like to buy new cars, throw rims on the cars, tint. There's been plenty of times when I've been pulled over by-- I'm gonna say county police and been judged. I've been pulled over for no reason at all. First thing the officer comes up and tells me is, "Whose car are you driving?" and I have police plates on the car. Once they find out I'm police, "What are you doing as an officer that's allowing you to pay money to buy rims for the cars that you're driving?" But from him telling me his experience, that made it seem like yeah, not every cop is a bad guy, but it's some that you can trust and some that you can't trust, but just try to give them the respect that you can. One thing I'm gonna keep in mind is to actually have conversations with the youth. In a lot of interactions I have with the youth, sometimes 'cause they're

chuckles

all

doing something they're not supposed to, and we end up taking a trip to baby bookings or something like that, and I know them--I know them from a lot of the stuff they're not supposed to and what I hear from the neighbors in the neighborhood and all that, and maybe instead of, like, asking wh--like, "You guys been behaving lately," or, you know, "Staying out of trouble?" maybe I should actually try to bring it down to a more normal level and ask them, you know, "How you--how you been doing? How you doing in school? How's it going at home?" stuff like that. Right. - Yeah. That was good. Yeah. -

laughs

overlapping chatter

helicopter whirring

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Father... -

weeping

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In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we need your love. Have mercy on us, on our souls. Touch our families, touch our community in the only way that you know how. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, pray, amen. Amen. A person was, you know, irritating her, constantly, you know, putting they hands on her, throwing bottles at her, had spit on her, all that. My sister kept, you know, disregarding it, trying to go ahead about her business, and a fight broke out, and then gunshots broke out, so... All this stuff, that pile of grass and stuff, that's what got my sister caught up where she actually tripped, and the person was able to stand over top of her and finish her off. We got all these city officials and politics that get paid all this money. They went to school, got big degrees, and all that, and they still haven't figured out how the hell to curb violence. She was pronounced dead right there where them

bleep

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damn balloons lay 'cause we watched her take her last breath. I feel like if they had enough balls to come on Rose Street and do that to somebody from Rose Street, man, the old me, I would probably be incarcerated because I already would have did something. I would have been running around doing

bleep

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.

sweeping

somber music

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-

laughs

indistinct chatter

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I want to thank everybody that came out to show some support to my little sister, Ashley. As y'all can see, man, it's nothing but love for that girl.

both

Nothing but love. We got too many people in this world that sit back and hate each other for no reason. Yeah. And the main question is why do we do this? Every last one of us is in the same situation. It's too many important things going on out here, man, for us to be sitting up here beefing with each other over nothing. So just spend time with your kids and your family and focus on what's real 'cause tomorrow it could be any of us. That's right. - Tonight. Tonight.

indistinct chatter

both

Appreciate you coming out and supporting me, all right? Right. Alex? - Hmm? No, we ain't having practice today. I probably don't have practice till, like, Thursday for real, for real. Give me a couple days, get myself together. But it ain't over. We still gonna

inaudible

both

.

Good morning. all

Morning. All right, let's try it again. All right, let's put a little energy in it. Good morning. Thank you. Notice I said thank you. You're welcome. - Well... I guess the topic this morning would be stop the violence. Stop it. You know, somebody probably say, "Do you ever get tired of saying stop the violence?" Nope. Can't get tired. Like a senior citizen said during the Civil Rights Movement, she said, "My feet is tired, but my soul ain't no ways tired," and that's where I'm at right now. Can't give up, and I'm saying that to all of us. We can't give up. Things are gonna get better, but you got some people that don't believe that. I cannot fall into that unbelief that things are not gonna get better. I can't believe that Brandon is not gonna make it to 70. I see Brandon a 70-year-old man, gray hair, might have a cane. Yeah. - You know? Yeah, you gonna have a few more pounds on you. Gonna see her at 90. -

laughs

Good morning. all

But I see you at 70. I see her at 70 years old, four kids, six grandkids.

laughter

Good morning. all

All right? I see that when I look at y'all, right? I see y'all in the future. I believe in the future. I believe things gonna get better for our people. I believe that with everything that I got, every fiber that's in my body and my soul. So I'm not gonna take it no further, okay? Meeting adjourned. -

voice breaking

Good morning. all

It's almost like she was sitting here with us.

sniffles

Good morning. all

When my sister passed, like, I kind of took it hard, knowing that I work for Safe Streets, and my number one job is to prevent homicides. The sad part is retaliation, like, don't think that I'm not-- I got so much anger and rage in me right now, like, I'm really just channeling it in a whole 'nother avenue. Like, I--like, 'cause I'm gonna show you how you really supposed to bring your community together. That's how I'ma kill you, 'cause that's gonna hurt you way more than me shooting you or beating you up 'cause then you have to see it all the time. It's in your face, so that's how I'ma kill all of my enemies. You gonna die off my success. I was born by the river In a little tent Oh Down by the river I live Ev'r since It's been a long It's been a long time coming And I know Change gonna come It's been too hard living And I'm not afraid to die I'm unable To touch the sky So it's been a long It's been a long time coming And I know change gonna come Oh, yes, it will That's perfect. - Huh? Thank you. That was great.

somber ambient music

Good morning. all

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