Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said this week that he wants the city's street workers to return to their roots, when they could stay on the streets until the early morning hours and hire former gang members who could relate to troubled teenagers.
Boston street workers - the city employees whose job it is to find and form relationships with gang members and steer them from violence - were lauded as key contributors to the drop in crime in the 1990s. But in the past decade, union rules have prohibited city street workers from staying on the streets past 8 p.m., and criminal background checks have prevented the city from hiring former gang members.
Davis has spoken with former street workers who lament the changes that he said have watered down the effectiveness of the program.
"I just know when it worked they were there when the action was going on," Davis said in a phone interview. "It doesn't seem to work as well now. . . . I would like to see it get back to the way it was when it got started."
Davis spoke as the city is trying to revamp the program, which began in 1990 and had about 45 workers at its peak. By last year, the number had dwindled to 24. City officials said that six more street workers have been budgeted for this year and that more could be hired next year, though it is unclear how many.
Councilor at Large Michael F. Flaherty is expected to propose a resolution next Wednesday calling for a public hearing on whether to expand street workers to some of the city's schools.
The proposal calls for one male street worker and one female street worker to be assigned to the four high schools that have experienced the worst violence.
Last year, the city hired about 10 youth development specialists, who have social work and counseling skills and whose duties include connecting troubled youths that street workers meet in the neighborhoods with resources such as mental health services.
"I completely respect the police commissioner's position on this," said Daphne Griffin, executive director of the city's Centers for Youth and Families, which oversees the street worker program. "What is taking place is a much more comprehensive approach."
Griffin said she could not comment on whether there are any plans to extend the hours of street workers. But she said that street workers stay on the streets late in the evening for special events or when there is an outbreak of violence.
While the state's Criminal Offender Record Information law, or CORI, makes it nearly impossible to hire former gang members, Griffin said she is not worried that street workers without a criminal past have less credibility with young people they meet in the neighborhoods.
"Many of the street workers are from the neighborhoods," she said. "They have families that are there. They already have a connection to the city."
Davis said he would like street workers to be out late at night and in the early morning, as they are in Providence, where street workers are out until 2:30 a.m. and regularly go to hospitals and crime scenes following shootings.
"It's helpful to have people out there that are trying to tamp down the violence when the violence is occurring," Davis said. "The problem is not in their desire to do the right thing or their commitment to the job. It's really in the bureaucratic rules that surround the implementation of the street worker program, as it evolved over time."
Former street worker Robert Lewis Jr., who left as head of Boston Centers for Youth and Families in September, said the identity of the street worker has changed in the last 17 years.
When the program was first launched, the mission was solely to prevent gang violence, and street workers were assigned to work with specific gangs.
Over the years, Lewis said, residents wanted street workers at community meetings, visiting children at school assemblies, and patrolling dangerous bus stops.
"I think the big question right now is what are people expecting from the street workers?" Lewis said. "I think in 1990 it made a difference that I could hire certain folks who were from the street. It made a difference that we worked directly with gangs. I think it was powerful. . . .
"I think if Commissioner Davis, as the head law enforcement officer, sees that as an asset to fighting crime, I think that's something to take a look at," Lewis said.
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.
