Democratic leadership in imploding Baltimore City has funneled city and state dollars into a super-progressive anti-violence program called "Safe Streets," which pushes 'non-policing' techniques to deter violent crime. Mayor Brandon Scott has championed Safe Streets, yet many residents have complained the program is a sham.
In some terrible optics for the Democratic mayor, the FBI raided a Safe Streets location in northeast Baltimore on Thursday. Local media WBALTV said what the FBI was looking for during the raid remains unclear.
A spokeswoman for the FBI Baltimore Field Office told WBALTV that agents conducted "court-authorized law enforcement activity" at the Safe Streets office in Belair-Edison in northeast Baltimore.
Non-profit healthcare corporation LifeBridge Health, who manages the site, told the media outlet:
"The FBI this morning enacted a search warrant at the Belair Safe Streets site managed by LifeBridge Health. Two of our staff have indicated that federal agents showed up at their residences. We have no other information at this time. We are treating this incident seriously and complying with requests from authorities."
The Belair-Edison location is one of ten Safe Streets locations across the metro area where so-called "violence interrupters" are stationed and are deployed into neighborhoods (instead of police) to prevent violence from exploding.
"They are supposed to stop people in the community from fighting and with the drug situation in the community. I don't know. This is definitely amazing today. I heard it all," said A.J. Gary, a Belair-Edison resident.
Resident Gay continued, "It doesn't make any sense to me. What's the use of having the program if y'all doing the same thing people in the streets are doing, but y'all supposed to be helping us?"
Perhaps a report from Fox Baltimore sheds more light on what precisely the FBI was looking for at the Belair-Edison location:
"The FBI is not releasing details, but sources tell FOX45 News that federal agents are looking into possible gang affiliation."
"This is concerning to see, and I am seeking additional information. We should always expect public safety agencies and those that receive city funds to carry out important public safety initiatives to follow the law," Mark Conway, Chair of the council's Public Safety and Government Operations Committee, wrote in a statement.
Conway said, "None of this surprises us. The people who oversee (Safe Streets), MONSE [Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement], has a lot more questions now to answer," said Schleifer.
Republican State Del. Nino Mangione from Baltimore County stated, "I again call for a full and complete and full audit of all Safe Streets accounts. Further, I believe the full results of these audits should be released in their entirety to any local, state or federal entity suppling funds to the Safe Streets program."
MONSE responded to the raid on X:
Any malfeasance of anyone involved in this activity does not and should not diminish the work that Safe Streets Baltimore staff do on a daily basis -- putting themselves in harm's way to mediate conflicts before they escalate into incidents of gun violence.
Any malfeasance of anyone involved in this activity does not & should not diminish the work that Safe Streets Baltimore staff do on a daily basis – putting themselves in harm's way to mediate conflicts before they escalate into incidents of gun violence.
— Baltimore MONSE - Neighborhood Safety & Engagement (@BaltimoreMONSE) October 26, 2023
One X user responded to MONSE's post: "Safe streets = bunch of felons and drug dealers."
Safe streets = bunch of felons and drug dealers
— Salty Baltimore Cop (@saltybmorecop) October 27, 2023
Judging by the out-of-control crime in the corrupt hellhole of a city, the FBI raid suggests maybe, just maybe, the tax-payer-funded progressive experiment was doing something super illegal.
This is terrible optics for the young mayor pushing disastrous progressive policies as people and businesses are fleeing the collapsing metro area for safer areas.
