New Haven Independent: Unlike Quinell, Norman Was Reached

Unlike Quinell, Norman Was Reached

by Allan Appel | July 31, 2008 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)

nhistreetoutreach%20006.JPG A year ago Norman Boone was spending his time on the streets “beefin’” — stirring up fights with kids who wandered into his Dixwell/ “Tribe” territory. Today, he’s learning painting in a job training program, is enrolled in adult ed for his GED, and, to use his phrase, “I’m on the right road and am going to keep going.”

Norman was on the original list of 47 severely “at-risk” teens referred by police to a new team of former gangbangers-gone-straight known as “Street Outreach Workers.”

He was proud exhibit number one at the first-year anniversary celebration of the SOW program, held Wednesday at the New Haven Family Alliance, under whose supervision it operates.

There officials pronounced it one of New Haven’s great success stories. They called for doubling the size of the half-million dollar program in the years ahead from its current nine workers. Click here to read about the launch of the SOW last year, and here to read about the truce they struck three weeks ago to end a wave of shootings.

New Haven has been reading these days about another teen referred to the outreach workers — Quinell Payne, a troubled young man who walked away from a city summer job, then raced a stolen dirt bike into a van and died from his injuries. Click here to read a Register account of the different ways the city tried to engage Payne, to no avail. His story has served as as evidence for the argument that troubled teens need to be locked up, not engaged in social programs.

The stories of other teens like Norman Boone don’t make news — because these teens have been reached, and aren’t causing trouble.

“The Street Outreach Workers program is nothing short of remarkable,” said City Hall’s point person in the effort, Community Services Director Kica Matos. She cited hundreds of mediations between individuals and groups that the workers had conducted, including the recent gang truce.

nhistreetoutreach%20001.JPG “A measure of the trust that’s been established,” said Tyrone Weston (to Matos’s right in photo), the supervisor of the SOW, “is that in the case of the kids on Winthrop, they called us in. They called Maurice “Blest” Peters, and we helped them solve it for themselves. Some of the slogans, the mantras about behavior they were saying, they had learned from us and made their own.”

Matos said that the outreach workers, assigned to six neighborhoods, have regular contact with 267 kids. The larger universe of people being helped — those involved in the job trainings, life skills classes, basketball league and other activities radiating out from the SOW through the Alliance — numbers closer to 400.

“Of the core group in danger of resorting to gun violence, grown to about 200, ID’d by the police for concern,” added NHFA director Barbara Tinney, “about 49 who originally had court involvement did not re-enter the court system, which is extraordinary.” She also cited 100 kids who pledged not to engage in violence, some 75 who had completed life skills courses, 53 who have gained employment, and 21, including Norman Boone, enrolled in adult ed.

A Constant Prescence

Outreach worker Doug Bethea, Norman Boone said, had been in his life for many years. Bethea was there when Boone dropped out of Hillhouse at age 16. Bethea was there when Boone didn’t want to leave his homeboy when the cops were coming, Boone said; although it was his friend who had just stolen a bicycle, Boone too was arrested and spent a month in jail. “I had bracelet violations too, you know, staying at home violations, and all that,” Boone said. “My mom was home, but my dad and his family were all in the South. I liked being on the streets. That was the problem,” he said, with a sense of talking about another person.

Finally, a year ago, as the Street Outreach Worker program was getting started, a beefing incident was leading to potential violence with Boone and others. Officer Shafiq Abdussabur and Doug Bethea kept after Boone to knock it off. They brought him to Sandra’s soul food restaurant on Whitney Avenue for a meal, and some tough talk about the illogic behind continual beefing. Boone began to change his ways.

nhistreetoutreach%20005.JPG On a trouble scale of one to ten, Boone said he would have rated himself an eight, but now that’s behind him. Boone was a little uncomfortable being interviewed by the press, Bethea said, with his hands all covered with paint from his internship at Monterey Place. But that, of course, was the point. After the internship ends, Bethea will be working with Boone to apply for full-time jobs with the skills he has learned.

Nobody expects magic to occur. “Just last week,” Boone said, “Me and my homeboy were riding our bikes on the sidewalk, downtown, near the bagel place at Grove and Whitney, and the cops arrested us.”

For what? a reporter wanted to know. For riding bikes on the sidewalk. (A police dispatcher actually told a caller in an unrelated incident this week that bicyclists are supposed to ride on the sidewalk.)

nhistreetoutreach%20007.JPG “What happened,” Doug Bethea explained later as he and Tyrone Weston were enjoying some first anniversary treats, “is that there had been a robbery. And you know what happens. The cops were looking for people. You know what happens in this city. They see Norman and some black kids riding their bikes. He was going from Fair Haven, where his friend lives, home, and they stop them and ask them if they know anything about a robbery. Norman said he didn’t know. The cops gave summonses anyway for trespassing with the bikes or whatever. Booked them at Union Station. His mother called me, and we were down there in an hour, and we advocated for Norman and the others, and we got the PTA [promise to appear] and then the charges dropped. That’s what we do.”

Might the outreach workers take on the task of combating “no-snitchin’”?

“The mission focus has to remain on youth advocacy,” Kica Matos said.

Added Weston, “We know that ‘no snitching’ is suffocating our community. Believe me, when we visit kids in the hospital, we talk about not retaliating … If kids want to help, yes, we help them with that, but we don’t promote it. At the heart of what we do is a 100 percent rock-solid sense of confidentiality between workers and the kids they rescue. Without that we wouldn’t be where we are today after a year.”

The Street Outreach Workers program this year is funded by grants from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, United Way, Yale University, Empower New Haven, and the State of Connecticut, the same funders who made the first year possible.

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Comments

Posted by: Bill | July 31, 2008 9:15 AM

PROPS TO NORMAN!!!
Here's a kid who can see the future. And big up to the SOW program for getting things done in the hood.
BUT...
let me get this straight. Our community can have a debate about white adults riding bikes on sidewalks, but when the police see black youths doing the same they are arrested.

...

How can we trust the police to protect and serve our community when many of them share a strong bias against minority youths.

When I reported my bike stolen the officer said he saw kids on bikes all day and he knows 99% of the bikes are stolen. I was shocked that he assumed that though I think he knew he was exaggerating. Maybe he was trying to make me feel better.

This is why the SOW program is so important. We need to fix our community from within. We can't expect the police to correct our children. If you see something, you better say something!!

Posted by: eastshoreguy | July 31, 2008 10:06 AM

Great photo. Love that grill!

Posted by: jackie | July 31, 2008 10:16 AM

encouraging story--glad for norman and all involved. best of luck.

i appreciate the sympathetic viewpoint re: the biking on the sidewalk, but by discouraging those simple offenses, the "kids on bikes" who are actually out to hurt folks might be deterred from their chief means of transportation and getaway.

so while it seems unfortunate that they got arrested, we still need that type of enforcement. can't really apologize for it. carrot *and* stick.

Posted by: Deuce | July 31, 2008 10:39 AM

Bill wrote: "...How can we trust these people to protect and serve our community when many of them share a strong bias against minority youths".

Next time you get robbed or beaten, make sure you call a minority youth.

Are the police really biased, or just acting upon the law of averages in New Haven?

Posted by: Red Scare | July 31, 2008 10:58 AM

Jackie: I respect your view, but I must disagree. Riding a bike on a sidewalk, i.e., the violation of a city ordinance, is not an offense for which an individual should be detained by the police. The fourth amendment requires a "reasonable and articulable suspicion" that criminal activity is afoot. Our state constitution provides an even greater right to privacy. Riding a bike on a sidewalk is not a crime. In fact, state law expressly permits cycling on sidewalks, unless restricted by a city ordinance:

C.G.S. 14-286a

(b) Every person operating a bicycle solely by hand or foot power upon and along any sidewalk or across any roadway upon and along any crosswalk shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to pedestrians walking in such areas as provided by the general statutes, except as provided otherwise by any ordinance of any city, town or borough or any regulation of the State Traffic Commission issued or adopted pursuant to the provisions of section 14-289.

The fact that a bicycle provides a "chief means of transportation and getaway" is not enough, by itself, to justify a stop. Should the police be allowed to stop all cars and bikes simply because the operator might have committed a crime and be trying to abscond? Such a rule would effectively allow the police to stop anyone for any reason at any time - a handy tool for racial profiling.

It sounds to me like the police saw two black kids on a bike and assumed they must have committed the robbery. When they realized it not to be so, they flipped through the general statutes until they found an offense that, with tortured reasoning, might apply to the youths' conduct, perhaps hoping they'd plead guilty rather than attend court every two weeks for a year or until a trial date is available.

Posted by: Deuce | July 31, 2008 1:05 PM

"It sounds to me like the police saw two black kids on a bike and assumed they must have committed the robbery"

Most of the recent robberies in New Haven have been committed by black youths on bikes. The police had every right to question them, based on crime data. That's not profiling, it's looking for suspects based on crime patterns.

Posted by: Norton St. | July 31, 2008 3:00 PM

You may be right deuce, one can understand why the two boys were stopped and questioned but whats ridiculous is that they were arrested for nothing.

Posted by: KenCT | July 31, 2008 3:19 PM

Why is it necessary to turn this upbeat article into a series of whining rants about police racism and bicycling on sidewalks?

In my bike rides around the city, occasionally on a sidewalk, I must confess, I see kids erasing graffitti, watering the downtown planters which are such a great addition to our streetscape, as well as those working in libraries and elsewhere. What about an end-of-summer pizza party on the Green to support these young people, possibly sponsored by the Independent? Though my financial resources are limited, I'd gladly kick in a couple of bucks to recognize kids who make a positive contribution to our city.

Posted by: jackie | July 31, 2008 3:41 PM

red scare--i respect your view, too. and a full-on arrest for a violation like riding on the sidewalk goes overboard. (sloppy reading). i apologize for suggesting otherwise.

still, an ordinance or ticket or whatever seems totally legit, which is also a deterrent. you said that "state law expressly permits cycling on sidewalks, unless restricted by a city ordinance".

well, here's the city ordinance that you need (i think):

NH Code of Ordinances
Article I Sec. 29-10. Vehicles on sidewalks:

No person shall drive, wheel or draw any coach, cart, handcart, wheelbarrow, bicycle, or other vehicle of burden or pleasure, whether of the same description or not, except children's hand carriages drawn by hand, or permit any horse under his care to go or stand upon any sidewalk or footpath in the streets or public squares of said city, except going in or out of driveways.
(Code 1928, § 751; Traffic Reg. of 7-7-52, § 10)

as for this:
"Should the police be allowed to stop all cars and bikes simply because the operator might have committed a crime and be trying to abscond?"

definitely not. but they certainly should pull over people who drive aggressively, run red lights, etc., something that happens quite a bit in this fair city and state. if they happen to catch a thief in the process, well, no complaints from me.

i believe my main point stands: enforcing (not overenforcing) even minor offenses sends a message that the law actually means something. i'm not against second chances, but is it really that hard to stop at a red light or to ride on the street? wait--don't answer that second part, paul...

Posted by: Kevin Ewing | July 31, 2008 3:45 PM

I'm sorry to disagree with you Deuce but I don't care what the statistics say... getting stopped just because you are black and on a bike is the very definition of profiling. Look it up: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/profiling

I realize this makes the job harder for the police but it also protects our liberties. What we need to decide is whether or not it is worth it. And that decision has to come from those who are being profiled.

Anyone that has ever been pulled over for DWB would understand this. I've had it happen to me a number of times. Once even when I WAS a cop. I showed my badge, had them call my shift commander and STILL got hassled because I didn't 'belong in that neighborhood.' I was off duty and on my way to a Young Republican's meeting (yeah, I was a bit mixed up in the 80's but I had my reasons) which naturally wasn't in the 'hood.'

Often I would be riding in a police car on patrol and a cop would pull up behind me and I'd get nervous. It took a long time for me to release my resentment of cops and even longer to start to trust them again. It has been so ingrained in us that even though we realize the idiocy of the mistrust it is there.

In fact, it was this resentment that led me to the force in the first place. Growing up in the St. Louis 'hood' in the 60's and 70's we felt the pressure of the police as some here are calling. I became a cop because I wanted to be sure that there was at least one honest cop on the streets. Turns out there were plenty but the attitude of it being okay to roust anyone that fit a profile was pervasive and it was only because a few innocents sued that the department made a policy against it.

There are no absolutes in any of this and until we all understand that we will continue to offend and steal the liberties of others.

Posted by: Nan | July 31, 2008 5:32 PM

KENCT, what a great idea! I'll kick in a couple of bucks too and attend the much needed celebration. There's a group of kids from the Hill who have been planting street trees all summer long under the guidance of URI. They are just some of the many kids who should receive recognition.

Posted by: tired of it | July 31, 2008 8:42 PM

Everyone seems to take it on face value, what was said to the independent as gospel. This is only one side of a story, there are always two. I'm all for the cops not doing anything again, and seeing how society reacts to that.

Posted by: Bill | July 31, 2008 9:58 PM

KenCT, Nan-
"What about an end-of-summer pizza party on the Green to support these young people, possibly sponsored by the Independent? Though my financial resources are limited, I'd gladly kick in a couple of bucks to recognize kids who make a positive contribution to our city."

You guys are right. I would gladly donate a few dollars to a cause such as this. I apologize for what seemed like whining to you. I agree that we should turn this into a positive exercise. How can we get something like this rolling??
--Bill

Posted by: KAMB | August 1, 2008 12:14 AM

Maybe everyone who thinks these innocent 'kids' are just exercising while riding their bikes should take a walk on Edgewood Ave or Kensigton St at night and you'll see their real motive isnt exercising, its to rob you or transport drugs (for the most part). Check the stats for yourself and you'll to be a victim. RIDE SAFE.

Posted by: John Lynch | August 1, 2008 1:27 AM

I knew Norman Boone as a very young man during his participation in a Dixwell youth program that I coordinated. I am extremely glad to see that he has taken positive steps to re-direct his life. Norman, congratulations on really representing for your neighborhood through hard work and positivity. Much respect to Dougie for continuing to grind for kids in New Haven generally, and in Dixwell specifically.

John Lynch

Posted by: Debra James | August 1, 2008 3:09 AM

Congradulations Norman,keep rising to the top you can do anything if you put your mind to it don't be a follower be a leader there's a lot of young people who need a mentor as yourself.I'm very proud of you.May god bless you and continue to bless you with knowledge and wisdom.From a mother who cares.

Posted by: James | August 1, 2008 9:17 AM

I'm in for a few bucks as well. Why not a "youth awards dinner" or something? Paul, is the Independent interested in working on this? If not, who will step up and make this happen?

Posted by: Paul Bass | August 1, 2008 4:20 PM

Nice work everyone! City Hall read this thread -- and is planning just the party on the Green you suggested. We'll pitch in however we can. (I hear there's going to be pizza, and kids honored.) Stay tuned for details.

Posted by: James | August 1, 2008 4:39 PM

Awesome, Paul. Please let us know the details as they emerge.

Posted by: Nan | August 1, 2008 6:39 PM

Kudos, Paul and KENCT. Without the NHI, this thread would never have developed so quickly and easily. Thanks to Ken for starting the idea, to Paul for providing the media venue, and to City Hall for picking up on the celebration. It will be fantastic to see so many positive, productive kids being honored and enjoying themselves in one place. I'm still good for a donation.

New Haven Independent

Unlike Quinell, Norman Was Reached

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