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A former supervisor of Baltimore's Safe Streets violence prevention program, identified as David Caldwell, 39, was arrested in Frederick County, after failing to appear in court for felony drug charges, according to the Baltimore City Sheriff's Office. Caldwell was taken into custody without incident yesterday inside a closet of a residence on Bartonsville Road, WMAR2 News reported. In the original bench warrant stemming from Caldwell's failure to show up for a scheduled Oct. 27 jury trial, he faces allegations of possessing a kilogram of cocaine with the intent to distribute, documented by online court records and reported by FOX Baltimore. The arrest highlights ongoing concerns regarding the Safe Streets initiative, which employs individuals from community organizations LifeBridge Health and Catholic Charities rather than directly by the city, thus shielding their identities from public scrutiny. This opacity has been a point of contention, as FOX Baltimore reported, persistently advocated for greater transparency within the program. "Whenever we're talking about Safe Streets employees, there's always going to be this idea that we are striking balance between trying to have a program that assists young people that are engaging in violence, and then having people that used to be involved in violence, trying to get them to not recidivate, to no longer engage in violence because they want to help the community," said a spokesperson, acknowledging the fine line the program walks but pointing out the issue being "when we are dealing with people like David Caldwell, who never actually stopped their criminality." Caldwell's past involvement with Safe Streets came to light when, in October 2023, the FBI executed a search warrant at the Belair Edison Safe Streets location as well as Caldwell’s home, seizing a magazine with nine live rounds and drug packaging materials. However, since then, no outcomes from the federal investigations have been reported.
