Dallas authorities have started a program that is rather unique. It consists of a group of so-called “violence interrupters” that approach young men and women in vulnerable situations to speak to them in a language that they can understand so they don’t end up using violence in their lives.
The Dallas Morning News interviewed one member of those violence interrupters groups. His name is Victor Alvelais, and Oak Cliff born who spent 26 years in prison after killing one person while trying to defend a friend. Nowadays, he is also the director of the program. In the interview, he talks about how he knows how violence works and when it starts.
According to the DMN, what Alvelais does is quite simple: he shows up and tries to encourage kids and young people to resolve their problems without violence. As he explains: “We work primarily out of the apartment complexes. That’s where the majority of those violence crimes happen. So in those apartment complexes we are trying to encourage conflict resolution, discourage acts of violence, and try to shepherd them toward services and opportunities to improve their quality of life.”
Dallas started this program in 2021 and has yet to invest $1.6 million dollars. The main reason this program was created is that there were a lot of concerns and worries about the necessity of having alternatives to police forces to build paths for avoiding violence. In its first year, Dallas Cred provided more than 600 social service and employment referrals to community members in the four focus zones.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie García told the Dallas Morning News that this program is working very well. “As a city, we have to work together to fight and prevent crime in our neighborhoods,” Garcia said. “The men and women of the Dallas Police Department cannot do this alone. It also takes city leaders, community groups, our pastors, and even citizens, to weed and seed our neighborhoods and put an end to violent and destructive behavior.”