Durham councilman asking for spending assessment, commission for Black youth

Millions of City dollars are being spent with a goal of stopping the violence in Durham and one City council member is calling for accountability as to where the money is going.

When Council returns from summer break at the end of July, Durham Councilman Leo Williams is planning to call for two things:

• An assessment by City staff of all public safety programs that receive City funding such as Bull City United, the Community Safety & Wellness Task Force, the Community Safety Department, and ShotSpotter
• The creation of a commission on Black Men and Black Boys

Williams says he wants an assessment of the programs not with the intention of cutting any of them, but rather to ensure that the amount of money being spent on them is appropriate based on the impact they are having.

As far as the Commission Williams wants to create – he explains that he wants it to “be very specific and intentional about the cause and effect here on gun violence. And why is it disproportionately Black men and boys that are mostly involved in this?”

Williams alluded often to his background as an educator and how that shaped his perception on how to help at-risk youth.

Durham police data shows that, of the 120 people shot in Durham so far this year, 82 percent, or 98 people, are Black.

"We are doing a lot of things, and yet the violence is still increasing," said Williams. "And those are symptoms of something in the system that’s failing. And I want to know what it is."

Williams said he wants to see data on the existing programs the City funds, to gauge their efficacy.

"I can’t tell you whether they’re effective or not," Williams said of the programs. "And that’s a question that I want to know. What I can tell you is we are investing a lot of resources into public safety and gun violence is still on the rise."