A new pilot program that calls for the anti-violence group CeaseFire to partner with the Chicago Police Department in curbing violent crime has struggled to take shape this summer, the group said Monday, because the organization didn't have assurances that its workers would not act as informants for criminal investigations.
It wasn't until Aug. 7, about a month after the pilot program was to have started, that both sides officially agreed in a memorandum of understanding that CeaseFire's "violence interrupters" and other workers would not be required to serve as police informants, according to the group executive director, Tio Hardiman.
"You have enough confidential informants. You don't need CeaseFire in that role," Hardiman said of the police. "The police are doing the lion's share of the work, but at the end of the day we're playing a valuable role."
Nothing about being good citizens or maybe helping grieving families see justice done for their murdered loved ones. Nope, they just don't want to be snitches.