Ex-convicts helping at-risk youth avert conflicts

updated 10:43 p.m. ET July 11, 2009

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - An argument earlier in the day between teens from rival neighborhoods had Jason Broom worried as he stood in a pothole-riddled parking lot pondering his next move. Broom was released from prison last year after serving time in two killings and is now a conflict mediator on Kansas City's gang-infested east side.

He grew anxious as none of the feuding youngsters answered his cell phone calls. Worried the confrontation could escalate to a gunfight and perhaps another killing, Broom took off, peering down blocks and slowing his car to check out teens huddled on porches and stoops. Nothing.

The stocky, 270-pound Broom easily blends into the neighborhood scenery as part of Aim4Peace, a program that sends reformed criminals into some of the city's tensest neighborhoods to calm disputes before they erupt. Police credit the program with reducing violence on the east side, where most of the city's 126 homicides occurred last year.

Leaders in the nation's most violent cities have talked for years about trying to get ahead of their crime problems, but efforts in Kansas City and Chicago take a different approach by sending former convicts into neighborhoods to more quickly identify, and defuse, trouble spots.

"I've done everything they're thinking about doing," Broom said.

'Another conflict resolved'
As the 38-year-old ex-convict combed the streets for the feuding boys, Broom couldn't help but think the worst. Night came and went without a word. But he caught up to them the next day, demanded they "chill out" and detailed what could happen if they let their argument turn violent: jail, or worse.

"That's over with," a relieved Broom said later. "Another conflict resolved."

Broom and the other half-dozen or so Aim4Peace street intervention workers, also known as "violence interrupters," say they resolved 22 conflicts last year in Kansas City and at least 14 this year. And the east side — where poverty, gangs and drugs have conspired against residents for years — no longer leads the city in killings, according to crime data.

"The work they're doing in that area is having an impact," said Maj. Anthony Ell, commander of the Kansas City Police Department's violent crimes division.

Ell said Aim4Peace is unlike any other prevention program he has seen in his 24 years with the department, because its members "go directly to the neighborhoods" to work with young people who run a high risk of committing violence or becoming victims. The group also helps find mentors for at-risk youth and links residents to community services.

Broom tends to reach out to young men whose families have violence or other criminal activity in their backgrounds, such as a teen whose older brother was convicted of killing someone in a drive-by shooting.

"A lot of these dudes that I work with, they've got family histories and I try to break the cycle," Broom said. "That's sort of the situation I was in. My dad was a heroin addict and used to rob people. My brother's in prison for murder."

MORE FROM CRIME & COURTS

Crime & courts Section Front

Alleged shooter tied to mosque of 9/11 hijackers Fort Hood rampage brings prayers, questions Suspect identified in Seattle police killing Alleged Fort Hood shooter's lonely life Killings unsolved as sniper execution nears High court to look at life in prison for juveniles Prosecutors seek journalism students’ grades Onlookers flock to site of Cleveland killings Clear warning signs, Hasan's colleagues say NYT: Muslims at Fort Hood voice outrage Crime & courts Section Front   Add Crime & courts headlines to your news reader: