Stockton has adopted a controversial plan to reduce gun violence by paying those most likely to commit gun related crimes. The City Council voted to try the Advance Peace program over the next four years.
Advance Peace goes out into the community, identifies those most likely to be a suspect or a victim, and mentors them.
But the most controversial aspect is that those in the program can earn up to a thousand dollars a month.
Advance Peace CEO DeVone Boggan says the program can break the cycle of violence.
"It's specifically designed for a group of individuals who have nothing, absolutely nothing coming at them to help them to stop shooting,” Boggan said.
Mayor Michael Tubbs says the program doesn’t come out of taxpayer dollars and the goal is to break the cycle of violence.
“A million dollars of outside philanthropic dollars, philanthropic means free, are willing to be invested in this community to employ a strategy that will help us with our existing strategies around gun violence,” says Tubbs.
But some like Stockton resident Denise Friday wasn’t convinced.
“Why would you want to pay somebody because how can you retrain a killer, if you’re a killer you’re a killer, so how can you be retrained,” Friday said.
Stockton joins 34 other cities that are implementing the peace plan with 10 cities in California including Sacramento.
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