Ex-cons promote peace on the same streets they once ran
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — People once considered part of Indy’s crime problem are now volunteering to stop it, and they’re getting some help from a group that specializes in making communities safer.
Named the Concerned OG’s (original gangstas), the new group wants to take back its neighborhood. And they’re hoping their experiences from living a life of crime will help them convince the next generation of criminals to take a different path.
In a neighborhood desperate for change, Craig Bledsoe is walking proof that it’s possible.
“We were drug addicts, on drugs, in and out of prison… lived the life of a criminal life,” he said. “We were the baddest of the bad.”
Bledsoe said during the 1970’s and 1980’s, the area around 38th Street and Sherman Drive was his turf. But several decades later, he and several of his friends who also committed crimes are trying to stomp it out, especially after the city experienced a record number of homicides in 2015.
With a little help from the Ten Point Coalition, they’re learning how to better connect with their neighbors, earn their trust and convince the next generation of criminals to turn their lives around. It started with a peace march Monday night down Sherman Drive.
“I see what’s going on now. I have eight kids, 10 grandkids. I don’t want the knock on my door, the tragedy,” he said. “When you see it on the news it’s OK, but when it’s at your door, it changes the whole story.”
If a crime happens in the area, the group can talk with neighbors who are afraid to talk with police, then transfer that information to investigators.
“We need it, we all need to work together to get it done,” Donald Dance said. He too is an ex-con and said he served more than seven years in prison.
Now he owns D&C pizza and created a coupon to help stop violence. If someone turns in a gun, they get a free pizza.
They are just two of several men who once ran the streets and are now taking steps to clean them up.
“That shows growth, maturity, and it shows that you really care about your community,” Bledsoe said. “You got to care.”
Concerned OG’s plan on marching every Monday night and possibly expanding as the group gains more experience and volunteers.
An officer with IMPD said the department needs to have further discussions with Dancy before the pizza/gun coupon should be distributed.