Several so-called “community peacekeepers” meant to curb violent crime in major Democrat-led cities are facing murder charges.
Democratic officials championed the peacekeepers as a progressive alternative to policing, whose criminal backgrounds purportedly helped provide a compassionate, “culturally sensitive” approach.
Each of the arrested violence prevention activists had previous encounters with law enforcement, including past murder cases, fueling doubts about the effectiveness of such criminal justice reform programs that critics see as soft on crime.
ChicagoKellen McMiller, a member of the Chicago Peacekeepers, was arrested in mid-September for a deadly burglary incident just days after appearing alongside Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) at an event applauding the state-funded Peacekeepers program’s violence prevention efforts.
McMiller, a career criminal who was already wanted across four U.S. states, allegedly robbed a Louis Vuitton store at approximately 4:50 a.m. on Sept. 11 as part of an organized crime crew that crashed a car while fleeing the scene, killing an innocent civilian on his way to work.
Mugshot of Kellen McMiller | Chicago Police DepartmentMugshot of Kellen McMiller, dated Dec. 17, 2023 | Source: Chicago Police DepartmentAccording to authorities, at least a dozen suspects arrived at the Louis Vuitton location in six stolen vehicles. Surveillance video showed a pickup truck ramming into the storefront and smashing through the windows. The burglars then loaded a large amount of merchandise, luxury goods valued at around $700,000, into the vehicles.
Per police, one of the getaway cars, which McMiller was allegedly in, accelerated through multiple red lights until it collided with an SUV driven by the father of a newborn heading to his final work shift before going on paternity leave that morning. The victim’s fiancée gave birth to their son shortly after he was killed in the crash.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed first-degree murder charges against McMiller and six alleged accomplices for the fatal, “highly orchestrated” smash-and-grab.
“This case is a heartbreaking example of the threat that these organized retail theft operations pose to the entire community,” State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said in a statement. ”Not only is the economic vitality of our city compromised by these crimes, but these offenders pose a physical danger to every one of us who live and work here.”
Six days prior to the victim’s death, Pritzker met with McMiller along with other Peacekeepers, whom he said are “working to create safer communities.”
McMiller, who was wearing a Peacekeepers uniform, posed with Pritzker for a one-on-one picture.
Washington, D.C.
Cotey Wynn, who is awaiting trial for premeditated murder, was a full-time “violence interrupter” supervising a pilot public safety program within the District of Columbia attorney general’s office.
Wynn currently stands accused of aiding and abetting the murder of a businessman in a September 2023 mass shooting that wounded three others at a local smoking lounge.
In March of this year, Wynn was captured by the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force and charged with first-degree murder while armed for his alleged role in the murder plot. According to the criminal complaint, Wynn was seen on security tape surveying the victims’ bodies and signaling to the suspected gunman when and where to escape.
Up until this point, Wynn was a program supervisor of a “violence interruption” initiative in the D.C. attorney general’s office called Cure the Streets. Wynn, who previously served 10 years in prison, led a team of six “violence interrupters” and “outreach workers.”
Cotey Wynn wearing a Cure the Streets shirt | Source: Instagram @coteyxCotey Wynn wearing a Cure the Streets shirt | Source: Instagram @coteyxIn July 2020, Wynn was spotlighted on the attorney general’s website as a Cure the Streets success story. The since-deleted profile called Wynn “a pillar of the community” who exemplified “community-driven public safety work.”
Months later, in December 2020, Wynn was charged with murder over a different shooting death stemming from 2017; however, that case was dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
According to an affidavit, while under arrest, Wynn “appeared to brag about criminal cases that he had previously [beaten]” and remarked that “the government didn’t do their homework” before apprehending him.
In response to his 2020 arrest, the attorney general’s office stressed that the 2017 homicide happened before Wynn was recruited into the Cure the Streets program.
Karl Racine, then the D.C. attorney general, told reporters that he had met Wynn a few times through Cure the Streets and found him to be “highly respected” in the community.
“My impression of Cotey in the two years I’ve known him is that he’s extremely diligent, he’s highly respected by his teammates and his community, and he’s a conscientious, hard-working individual,” Racine said. “We certainly weren’t aware of any matter related to the subject of his arrest yesterday.”
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who succeeded Racine, defended his office’s hiring of ex-convicts in violence prevention programming, such as the Cure the Streets, during 2023 testimony in front of the D.C. City Council’s judiciary and public safety committee.
“Keeping them locked up…will not make us safer or stronger,” Schwalb said.
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Cure the Streets “front-line” staff must be “culturally appropriate” “community insiders,” according to recruitment requirements. Staffers may be former gang members or have prior firearm convictions.
In a statement responding to Wynn’s latest arrest, Schwalb’s office noted his reputation as a “respected” anti-violence activist.
“Our office had no knowledge of Cotey’s potential involvement in any events related to his arrest,” Schwalb’s administration told FOX 5 DC. “He is well known throughout the District for his anti-violence work and is respected across the community.”
Some ‘community peacekeepers’ championed by Democrats now charged with murder
Idiocracies