By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker is defending the use of taxpayer dollars for community violence intervention, even after he posed for a picture with an alleged CVI worker who was wanted in four states.

Pritzker took questions from reporters after the ribbon-cutting for a student wellness and support center at Joliet Junior College Tuesday. The governor was asked how he would make sure that taxpayer dollars were not going to people wanted for crimes.

“It is often the case that people who have been in prison before but served their time and may have been in gangs before who are growing older are actually some of the best people to have deterring people from joining gangs and from being involved in violence in their communities,” Pritzker said.

Retired Riverside, Illinois police chief Thomas Weitzel questioned the governor’s reasoning that people with troubled backgrounds prevent crime.

“Show us how that’s working. I have not seen any data, but I have never seen any anecdotal information. Where is that?” Weitzel asked.

Earlier this month, Pritzker met with CVI workers in Chicago and posed for a picture with Kellen McMiller, who was charged with murder in connection with a burglary and fatal crash on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile a few days later. CWB Chicago reported that McMiller was also an anti-violence “peacekeeper.”

“There’s no way, by the way, when you take a picture to vet everybody. Do you know how many pictures I took out there with people who were sitting in the audience? I do it all the time,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker was told that McMiller had warrants in four states at the time the picture was taken.

“That isn’t something that our [Executive Protection Unit] can know, and, honestly, we were invited into that environment. We know that people who are involved in community violence intervention are people who had a previous life of crime. Certainly, nobody knew that this person had warrants in other states if they were active at the time,” Pritzker said.

The governor has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump for cutting federal taxpayer funding of community violence intervention programs.

“That will have a deleterious effect on our ability to fight crime,” Pritzker said Tuesday.

According to the governor’s office, the Illinois Office of Firearm Violence Prevention has spent more than $375 million to “reduce violence and support Community Violence Intervention programs.”