Five formerly entangled in the justice system have marked a milestone; they are now graduates of the St. Louis Police Partnership Program. This intervention, designed to assist individuals on probation or parole some previously affiliated with gangs offers a bridge to employment opportunities and a platform to eschew past transgressions. Participants must satisfy a set of criteria established by the Missouri Probation & Parole and city police to qualify. Moreover, the program anchors itself on improving the rapport between law enforcement and the communities they serve, as detailed in a report bySt. Louis Circuit Court.
Home visits and consistent check-ins are conducted by specially trained officers doubling as gang interventionists and probation officers, tasked with the duty to directly connect and assure participants are adhering to their court-mandated conditions. Detectives are to regularly ensure compliance, attempting to forge a relationship beyond the shadow of enforcement. “I’m very passionate about the program because I grew up in the city and I just know not everybody’s afforded second chances,” Detective Dorrell Sherrill imparted toSt. Louis Circuit Court.
One graduate, Heavenly Brison, 22, was on probation for a 2020 assault but has found a path to redemption through the program. Her emotional walk out of the Civil Courts Building, endearing her diploma, was met with tears of joy symbolizing a significant personal victory. “The program changed my life,” she told theSt. Louis Circuit Court.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Elizabeth Byrne Hogan champions the program, suggesting that it is a template for transformative justice, recalibrating public perception of the police force. “I think it changes the entire community’s perception of police and allows them to be able see the police as who they are, which is community caretakers,” Hogan said during the graduation ceremony, with the sentiment captured by theSt. Louis Circuit Court. “In partnering police detectives with probation and parole to provide each of you with different opportunities, it allows each of you to see that you’re worth fighting for yourselves, and that tomorrow is another day.”
An analysis carried out by criminologists from the University of Missouri St. Louis underscored the program’s merits indicating a decrease in recidivism spurred by increased employment amongst participants. Their study pointed out that “the program had a significant indirect effect on recidivism by boosting employment: treatment group participants were more likely than control participants to be employed, and employed participants were less likely to be arrested or charged with a technical violation by the end of the study.”
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