Latest news with #Elam
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
A program that works directly with shooters in Lansing is finding success — and police support
Lansing Police| Susan J. Demas This story was published in partnership with The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence. The first fatal shooting of the year in Lansing, Michigan, was solved quickly. All four alleged shooters in the drive-by killing of 21-year-old Jaivion Husband on January 27 were arrested the same night. The circumstances around the men involved in the shooting were complicated; three of the four were fellows with Advance Peace, a violence intervention program that was launched in Lansing in 2022, after initial hesitation from law enforcement. The fellowship is designed to keep people who have been engaged in shootings away from situations like these through concentrated mentoring, daily communication, job opportunities, skills development, and monthly stipends. After the suspects had been arrested, Paul Elam, a criminologist at the Michigan Public Health Institute who helped bring Advance Peace to town, visited the fellows. One of them, a 19-year-old who had been with the program since the beginning, broke down in tears, telling Elam that he knew getting into the car that night was a mistake. 'He told me, 'I let you down, I should have called,'' Elam recalled. 'They let somebody influence them to hop in the car and go do something. He was able to articulate that he was changing his behavior, but he had this moment where he didn't do what he knew was right.' The tragedy reminded the leaders that a moment is all it takes. The fellows 'have so much coming at them daily,' Elam said. 'You don't know what they're being pressured to do.' In the two-plus years since Advance Peace came to Lansing, gun violence in the city has dropped by 52 percent, according to police data, and community activists, along with law enforcement, are pointing to the program's success. The program isn't perfect, some city leaders acknowledge, but it is making long-term strides to accomplish mutual violence prevention goals. Residents in Lansing said the actions taken by the police, including a focus on repeat offenders and illegal firearms, have also played an important role. To sustain the city's progress, police officers and community workers are navigating the streets carefully — cooperatively, but independently. Since its inception in 2010, Advance Peace has been effective in other cities including Richmond, CA and Rochester, NY. Unlike other national anti-violence organizations, this one doesn't focus on geographical areas, victims of shootings, or people who could potentially get involved with gun violence. Instead, their violence interrupters identify people through information from family members or others plugged in on the streets who are shooters — people often unknown to the police. Once they identify the shooters, they enroll them in an 18-month fellowship program, during which they work directly with community violence interrupters, or credible messengers, who check in on them multiple times a day. In Lansing, one interventionist works with as many as five fellows at once. 'If a shooting occurred this week, nobody's going to talk to the police, but they're going to talk to our people,' said Elam. 'The target population for us is folks who are engaged in gun violence, who are evading law enforcement and the justice system.' Throughout the mid-to-late 2010s, shootings in Lansing weren't concentrated in specific areas; gun violence was more sporadic and random, especially across the south side of the city, where 60 percent of the population lives. No particular demographic or age group was overrepresented among perpetrators or victims, a reflection of the city's relative progress in addressing the historic segregation that still dogs nearby cities like Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo. That all changed after COVID-19 hit and retaliatory conflicts worsened between different groups on the southwest and west sides — neighborhood beefs, escalated on social media during lockdowns, turned into shootings. Shootings in Lansing increased by 80 percent between 2019 and 2020. In 2021, the city notched the highest number of homicides ever, with 25. 'It was lawless. A lot of young men were engaging in this back-and-forth, cyclical gunfire, and you had kids dying,' said Michael Lynn, a local activist who runs The Lansing Empowerment Network and The Village Lansing, two organizations focused on addressing and providing wrap-around services to those most affected by gun violence. 'When the pandemic happened, it was like a bomb went off in the city.' Shootings in Lansing have been in decline since the peaks of 2021, similar to national trends and the result of strategic work by community groups and law enforcement after the surge in youth violence. Though the program now receives widespread praise, when Advance Peace was first introduced in 2021 as a potential option for tackling the worsening crisis, Police Chief Robert Backus said the model didn't 'sit well' with his colleagues. 'There was skepticism about how it focused on people you knew were your priority offenders,' Backus said. Marlon Beard, a credible messenger with Advance Peace, said at first 'everybody was looking at it like, 'so you guys gonna pay shooters and sponsor them to buy them guns.' I think that was just ignorance of not really sitting down to do your research.' Once law enforcement and city leadership were educated about the mechanics of the program, they became more receptive to it, Beard said. During a recent event on the Michigan State campus, a handful of fellows, along with the credible messengers, learned about financial responsibility and entrepreneurship through an exercise led by Archie Hudson, a local business owner in Lansing. On the streets, these kids are often treated as — or posture as — adults, but in this setting, as they asked inquisitive questions and answered with 'yes, sir' and 'no, sir,' their age was apparent. Some were just 13 or 14. More importantly, they were comfortable around the credible messengers and other leaders of Advance Peace, the result of a hard-won trust. 'We never involve the police. Every conflict we've had resolved doesn't involve the police,' said DeAndre McFadden, one of the credible messengers, as they're called, who is working for the program. 'They know they can't infiltrate the situation the way we can. So far, the police have respected our space and our work.' Though Advance Peace doesn't share any information with the police, a key reason the organization retains its credibility, the authorities provide Advance Peace with regular shooting data and a list of names of people they believe to be involved in gun violence. 'It's almost like we're running parallel to each other, like we both have the same goal, which is no more violent incidents,' Chief Backus said, noting that the priority of police is enforcement and accountability. 'We have an obligation to represent victims, and if someone is our suspect, we have an obligation to put that person in front of a judge.' Despite the success of recent efforts, distrust between residents and the Police Department persists. That distrust stems from a decade of police shootings in and around Lansing, and a lack of transparency from the department on how the investigations progress, community leaders said. Since 2020, there have been four officer-involved shootings in Lansing, which has a population of roughly 112,000, and all of the cases were deemed 'justifiable.' By comparison, in the 10 years before 2020, there were four. In the most recent case, in December 2023, officers shot and killed Stephen Romero, a Hispanic man, after they were called for a domestic dispute. 'How can we create real positive relations when all of this is consistently going on,' asked Lynn, the local activist. Backus acknowledged that police shootings erode progress, and since they've happened more frequently since 2020, it's been difficult to rebuild trust. 'When they're happening so often in a short time, it doesn't give us time to repair those relationships,' he said, adding that unsolved homicides and people's unwillingness to speak to the police also hurt officers' credibility in the community. 'Ain't nothing changed,' said Beard, the Advance Peace worker, referring to the tense relationship between the community and law enforcement. 'The same way we get looked at as Black men — because one Black man did something, we all did it — that's kind of how we view the police.' One of the fellows with the program said if the police ever tried to talk to him, he'd 'just walk away and not say anything.' Over the last few years, the department has tried to put more emphasis on developing trust in the community by hosting more events, getting in front of active local groups, and being more visible in struggling areas. It has also focused more on firearms access. But the road to strategic cooperation is long. That's why activists, residents, and police agree that Advance Peace is crucial. A recent study of the program revealed some promising data, showing that over 90 percent of the fellows no longer use guns to resolve their conflicts. Yet just as the program is beginning to show its worth, the city is in jeopardy of losing it, as it's funded in large part by community violence interruption grants from the federal government that were terminated in April by the Department of Justice, leaving cities like Lansing scrambling for alternative funding sources. Some groups have joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration to restore the funding. DeVone Boggan, who is originally from Lansing and founded Advance Peace in Oakland, California, in 2010, said the recent funding issues are another example of why local cities and counties need to include funding for community violence intervention work in their fiscal budgets. 'That local infrastructure must budget for CVI practices,' Boggan said. 'That's the only way to sustain the work.'
Fox Sports
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Cowboys CB Kaiir Elam: 'The energy here is something I've never been a part of'
Former Buffalo Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam was one of a handful of players whom the Dallas Cowboys added in trades this offseason (wide receiver George Pickens and quarterback Joe Milton were among the team's other acquisitions), and the 2022 first-round draft pick feels "blessed" to be in Dallas. "I feel like the energy here [in Dallas] is something I've never been a part of," Elam said, according to the Cowboys' team website. "I love the enthusiasm, and also I would just say the energy from the coaching staff, they actually make you feel like they care, and that's something that's very exciting." Dallas acquired Elam in March, sending Buffalo the No. 170 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and a 2026 seventh-rounder for the cornerback and a 2025 sixth-rounder. Elam had bounced in and out of Buffalo's lineup over his three years with the franchise, partially due to an ankle injury and occasionally due to performance. Last season, Elam totaled two passes defended, one fumble recovery amid 26 combined tackles in 13 regular-season games. That said, Elam ranked 18th among cornerbacks in pass-rush grade (76.6), 35th in run-defense grade (75.6), 47th in overall grade (70.2) and 69th in coverage grade (67.0), according to Pro Football Focus. He also had two interceptions in his 2022 rookie campaign. As for the adjustment to playing for Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, Elam said that it has been "a pretty smooth transition." "All aspects of the game, just playing the game before the game is even played. Being able to eliminate routes and also expect what's coming so you don't have to play with your full athleticism, you can play with your mind first," Elam said about what he has picked up on mentally since joining the Cowboys. Eberflus is in his first season as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator after being the head coach of the Chicago Bears from 2022-24; Dallas moved on from head coach Mike McCarthy after a 7-10 season in favor of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who hired Eberflus to be his defensive coordinator. Elam joins a Cowboys cornerback room that includes two-time Pro Bowler Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland, who had nine interceptions and five pick-sixes in 2023, among others. Their defense surrendered 218.1 passing yards per game last season, which was 17th in the NFL. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience Dallas Cowboys Buffalo Bills Kaiir Elam recommended Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bills Shooting For Deja Vu With New Rookie Defensive Additions
Is deja vu hitting the Buffalo Bills all over again? In 2022, the Bills drafted cornerback Kaiir Elam in the first round, and Christian Benford in one of the final rounds of the same draft. No one believed Benford would turn into a star, while many expected Elam to be an immediate impact player. Advertisement The opposite happened. Benford has become one of the top players at his posiiton, while Elam has been shipped to the Dallas Cowboys. It might be happening again too. Buffalo drafted Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston in the first round and Virginia Tech corner Dorian Strong in the sixth round of the 2025 draft - almost the exact same spots they took Elam and Benford four years ago. No, no, nobody is talking about shipping away Max. But what about a later-round same-position guy again jumping up? Kyle Crabbs of the 33rd Team even believes Strong will be a solid role piece for the Bills. 'He is missing the ideal mass to play in the nickel, and his lack of involvement and refinements in defending the run create more of a projection if charging him with playing matchups inside," Crabbs said. "Strong is at his best playing zone coverage with his eyes in the backfield, where he can leverage multiple routes simultaneously as a deep third defender.' Advertisement We have a long way to go before we end up seeing truly if the Bills have done the same thing they did a few years ago. It is unlikely that lightning struck the same place twice in this regard. It's still an interesting thing to think about as the Bills continue through their offseason workouts, though. Related: Bills Sign Rookie With Maxx Crosby Role Model Goal Related: Bills 'Lethal Pairing' Key To Super Bowl Success?
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
A Step Behind? Have the Cowboys upgraded their defensive back room from 2024?
The Dallas Cowboys had high hopes for their defensive back unit going into the 2024 season. They had two All-Pro cornerbacks playing on the outside; DaRon Bland, the king of the Pick-6, and Trevon Diggs, who averages an interception every three games. The nickel corner, Jourdan Lewis, was one of the best slot corners in the league. The safety room had two solid starters in Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson, plus backups Markquese Bell and Juanyeh Thomas had given Dallas quality defensive snaps. Unfortunately injuries kept the Cowboys from playing any combination of this unit together except for one game. And as time waits for no man, the defensive backs room is going to look a bit different in 2025. The question is, did Dallas upgrade the unit overall? Advertisement The defense as a whole is under new leadership, with Matt Eberflus taking over for Mike Zimmer. That trickles down to position coaches as well, as Al Harris is no longer in the building, replaced by Andre Curtis, one of several coaches who came over from Chicago with the new DC. As for the players on the field? Losing Lewis, who signed a lucrative slot-corner free agent deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, could be crippling to the Dallas defense. Dallas traded a Day 3 selection for Kaiir Elam, a former first-round pick of the Buffalo Bills still on his rookie contract. The team then drafted ECU standout Shavon Revel Jr., who many considered to have first-round talent but an ACL injury had him available in the third. Both newcomers are outside corners, though, and Bland is an All-Pro on the outside as well. Moving him back to the slot could be a net negative. Elam and Revel Jr. could each be used as insurance in case the Diggs injury sets his play back., but that leaves the Cowboys with minimal certainty inside. Israel Mukuamu played a successful playoff game in the slot a few seasons ago, but not much since then. Caelen Carson showed promise before a shoulder injury, but was never the same afterwards. Kemon Hall and Troy Pride Jr. are possibilities, but in reality are depth pieces and it wouldn't be a smart option to rely on them. Advertisement The safety room didn't change much. The veteran starters have gotten a year older, and the younger guys have gotten a year wiser. Have the four players intersected enough to get any new starters? Only time will tell. Dallas added three possible safety options as undrafted free agents (UDFA). Alijah Clark, Zion Childress, and Mike Smith Jr. Both Bell and Thomas were prior UDFA players who are now major contributors, and if one of the new guys can do that, the unit could be improved. The path to compensating for Lewis' departure hinges on how the new additions will deploy. The Cowboys would have to either see something Elam hasn't shown yet in three years, a Pro-Bowl caliber ability, or have a fully healthy Diggs return, or a fully healthy Revel step in and have a rookie-of-the year campaign. That would have to be combined with Bland moving back inside and playing at a similar level to where Lewis was. There are way too many contingencies to consider this unit better than last season's. This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys have changed defensive back depth, but have they improved?
Chicago Tribune
05-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Cook County conducting study in Dixmoor on a workaround route for when trains block railroad crossings
To address long delays caused by stalled freight trains blocking rail crossings in Dixmoor, Cook County is funding a feasibility study for a potential roadway under Interstate 57 to help relieve congestion on Western Avenue. The study, which began in August, is evaluating building a roadway within an existing right of way along Calumet Avenue between 141st Street and 143rd Street, according to Jesse Elam, director of strategic planning and policy for the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways. 'Anything beats nothing,' Dixmoor Mayor Fitzgerald Roberts said. 'So the grant is doing a study on it, where we can pretty much make a throughway to get around these trains. I think it's a great move and I have great respect that they're trying to help us with this. It's been going on for so many years.' The county earmarked $95,000 for the study, funded through Invest in Cook, a grant program that supports transportation projects at different stages including planning, engineering, land acquisition and construction, according to the county's website. Although the village applied for the grant, Elam said the county is handling the study directly under an existing consulting contract, rather than going through the typical grant approval process. The study is funded with state motor fuel tax revenues shared with the county, Elam said. Elam said the county has explored the feasibility of building a connecting roadway under the interstate and is now reviewing property records to determine ownership and how it might affect the project. After the study is completed, the county will share the findings with the village and decide on next steps, Elam said. 'We want to get it done as fast as we can, but the property research part of it turned out a little more complicated than we hoped, so I think that's really the sort of critical path item there,' Elam said. 'So we hope to be able to wrap that up in the next couple months.' The village applied for the grant in 2024 after identifying an unused right of way that could improve access to neighborhoods east of Western Avenue, Roberts said. The road is in disrepair, covered in gravel and overgrown weeds, he said. 'We looked at an old map that showed that we had Calumet Avenue going through there,' Roberts said. 'We went on to find out that one of the mayors back in the day sold it or something, but it's not on a tax roll. It hasn't been placed on a tax roll. So basically, we want our street back.' The project aims to create an alternate route for residents and emergency vehicles, Elam said, particularly for those in mobile home parks along Western Avenue where residents are often trapped when trains block both rail crossings at the same time. The roadway will provide a backdoor entrance to the Colonial Estates Mobile Home Park near 142nd Street and Western Avenue, Elam said. If the roadway proves feasible, Roberts said the village will need assistance funding construction. According to the county, the feasibility study will also help identify potential funding sources and grants for engineering and construction. While blocked crossings impede residents at crossings on Wood Street and Robey Avenue, residents told the Daily Southtown the problem is worse along Western Avenue, where tracks intersect the road in the 139th and 145th blocks. Roberts said the proposed route won't fully solve the problem, as there are other crossings without an easy route to get around the stalled trains, but called it a first step toward addressing an issue that has affected residents for years. 'We'll be able to get from one side to the other side when the train is there,' Roberts said. 'But it's not going to completely solve it because if we have, per se, two trains on the track, you're still gonna be blocked one way. So we're still gonna need help.' There is no federal statute or regulation that sets a specific time limit on how long trains can block grade crossings, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. That limits the actions the agency can take. Meanwhile, trains have become longer due to precision scheduled railroading — a strategy used by freight rail companies to boost profits, lower operating costs and streamline service, according to the Government Accountability Office. Roberts said he plans to seek support from legislators to help secure funding for the route and others that would allow residents to bypass stalled trains. 'There's a lot of pieces to this, to make this project complete,' Roberts said. 'This is just the first phase of getting it off the ground.'
