Preparing for a Career in Law Enforcement

Episode #073

“Wherever I’m policing all I know is I’m responsible for that community and their problems are our problems now.”Police Aides Sergio Rivera and Jada Greer grew up...

A sentencing hearing

Episode #071

“It just seems like I’ve worked so hard to get nowhere.”On August 1, 2015 Glendale Police Officer Eric Guse was at an event at the pet store that had raised money for...

#069 Precious Lives: Changing the system from within

Episode #069

“I know technically we couch the work that youth workers do as youth development but I call it purpose finding work ­ in terms of helping people understand who they are,...

Moms who carry concealed

Episode #067

“I was scared to even look at a gun until I knew I was one hundred percent better. So I feel like it kind of took me a little bit to get back to where I used to be to,...

A classroom tool for healing empowers students to help others

Episode #064

“I think one of the things that is really critical is always to ask people what they need. And sometimes what’s needed most is just to be sad, be angry, to feel and just...

Robbery Trauma Leads Young Milwaukee Prosecutor to Leave Job to Heal

Episode #059

“After I was robbed it made me a lot better talking to victims and questioning victims. I knew just from being robbed it never goes back to being to be the same. And you...

When you’re vulnerable to family you’ll do anything for family

Episode #058

“You have a young man and he says he’s this, OK let him be that. You don’t have to change a person’s belief system. Because the gang culture teaches you,...

My son doesn’t have that street knowledge

Episode #056

“I understand that in this society, in this society, you got to know your child. He’s a follower, you know? I got to not let him be led by the wrong people. Because when...

Seeking stories behind the numbers

Episode #055

“Here’s where I always struggle, I struggle because we have so many good things in Milwaukee and we have a persistent problem. If we’re looking at Milwaukee in 2015 and...

A teenage girl’s gun violence survival guide

Episode #054

“My house right here! They down the street, like three houses down, hiding they gun. Somebody down there dead. I know who it is. What if they wasn’t done? What if they...

Mayor remarks on plan for youth violence prevention

Episode #053

“Well it’s pretty straightforward there’s going to be a jobs component, there’s going to be an engagement component. Those are all different components of how you...

Giovonnie Cameron

Episode #051

“My son never was allowed to play with guns. He never got it for Christmas, anyone bought him a gun I gave it back. But if I would've allowed him to, then he would've know...

Before He Pulled the Trigger

Episode #049

“He had told his mom the day of this incident that he didn’t want to live any more. Nobody knows that he had just a big blow up with his mom that he didn’t want to live...

Alternative school gives kids tools to stop fighting

Episode #048

“I like to fight, I’ve always fought. It let go of all of your anger. I felt really happy to get all the emotions into your fist. Now I can’t stop.”Within the last...

Kids who fight in school need the most care

Episode #047

“Well, I mean that's so much a part of us, where we live, who we're around our environment. When you don't have that support system. It’s so important. When you don't...

The cost of a single bullet

Episode #046

“Who is bearing the cost of these actions, when these kids do actually make decisions. And you know it comes down to the person, the victim. You know you get victimized...

Should Guns Be Allowed Inside Campus Buildings?

Episode #043

“Kremer pointed out that UWM is not a safe place… because it is in Milwaukee... is what the implication was. If you’re going to make a case about UWM being unsafe we...

Hiring for Youth Violence Prevention

Episode #042

“But I just want to say this, this current budget proposal with this two positions for the youth violence… I don’t want anyone listening to be mistaken that this in...

A Church Moves from Prayer to Action to Prevent Youth Violence

Episode #041

“Probation is like the hardest thing I ever had to do. You might think it’s a joke but like seriously probation is very hard. It was mainly like, probation was my...

Planting Seeds to Create Resilient Girls

Episode #039

“I know the whole neighborhood heard what happened in my house that night because it spills over and the screams and fighting and the arguing.  And so why... then you see...

Foundation for a Turnaround

Episode #038

“At the risk of sounding too simplistic, I don’t think this is something we can’t get our hands around very quickly. I do believe that we have a number of groups across...

Prosecutor Works with Landlords to Stabilize Neighborhoods

Episode #035

“We can’t solve a crime problem by arresting and prosecuting everyone that's just not going to work.” Plot incidents of crime on a map - homicides, shootings,...

Not a Violent Kid, a Surviving Kid

Episode #034

At 15 Tyrone Williams was the youngest person in Wisconsin waived into adult court for a robbery case. He rapped at his sentencing in 1997. He wrote lyrics about his life -...

What Young People Know About Guns

Episode #031

In Wisconsin, lots of kids get early exposure to guns. At outdoor stores you can get pint-size pink rifles to teach kids how to hunt. But sometimes kids get hold of guns...

Milwaukee’s Leaders Respond to Minneapolis Blueprint

Episode #030

The airing of a Precious Lives story about the success of Minneapolis’ youth violence prevention program has had Milwaukee leaders talking.  Precious Lives Executive...

Minneapolis Has a Plan to Keep Young People Safe

Episode #028

This week Precious Lives travels to Minneapolis to see how they’ve achieved a dramatic reduction in the number of kids killed and hurt by gun violence. A decade ago the...

Few Places Left Where Milwaukee Teens Feel Safe

Episode #027

As Milwaukee mourns ten individuals lost to gun violence in seven days, family members Shateria and Dearia Wiley, Nasiera Cloyd and Timasia Mack describe the scene on Lake...

First Responders to Trauma Need Coping Mechanisms Too

Episode #026

When watching the nightly news coverage of various shootings and violence in the city, it’s easy to separate yourself from the drama on the TV screen. For Lieutenant...

Milwaukee Police Visit Classrooms to Repair Community Relationships

Episode #025

Where there’s a lot of gun violence, there are a lot of cops. Milwaukee’s police Chief Edward Flynn describes this as a data driven approach to policing. In these...

Trauma Training Makes Way for Learning

Episode #024

When we lose someone in Milwaukee to gun violence, there’s a radiating impact. Take 5 year old Laylah Petersen. She was killed inside her home. The result of a drive-by...

The Shooting at the Vigil

Episode #023

Vigils are meant to offer solidarity and comfort to grieving people, a pause from the chaos of murder. But in May as a group gathered for 18 year old Kendrai Walker’s...

Common Council Invests in Neighbors to Interrupt Violence

Episode #022

When you think of the word Hood.. What comes to mind? Poverty? Drugs? Violence? For those who live in the Garden Homes neighborhood, it means something else. Some have even...

What Makes People Prioritize Gun Violence Reduction?

Episode #021

State Assembly Representative Jonathan Brostoff and Milwaukee Alderman Ashanti Hamilton both grew up on the east side of Milwaukee. Each had a completely different...

The Trauma of Shooting a Teen in Self-Defense

Episode #020

Concealed carry holder and nurse, Victoria Davison-Adams shot a 15 year old in self-defense. She’s learning how to cope with the trauma. Victoria Davison-Adams, a...

Homicide Prompts Neighborhood Peace, Not War

Episode #019

21 year old Raymond Harris, also known as Lil’ Ray, was fatally shot near an orchard managed by Walnut Way Conservation Corp. – a neighborhood group in Milwaukee’s...

How do you measure the loss of a 5 year old girl? Revisited

Episode #018

Originally aired the week of 1/12/15 The first Precious Lives story remembered five year old Laylah Petersen. Six months have passed since Laylah was shot and killed while...

Radio Show Host Helps Heal a Community Affected by Gun Violence

Episode #017

Internet radio show host Homer Blow is part of our Precious Lives radio team. Each week we bring you stories about young people and gun violence in our city. Homer helps...

New Discoveries Years After a Mother’s Suicide

Episode #016

Khary Penebaker volunteers with Everytown for Gun Safety and Mom’s Demand Action: groups that advocate for laws intended to prevent gun violence. Recently he started...

Provide Love Now to Avoid Lock-Up Later

Episode #013

The first half of 2015 has been an exciting time for leaders at Milwaukee’s Sojourner Family Peace Center.  The organization announced recently that it has exceeded its...

A Look at Life, Death & Homicide at a Milwaukee Funeral Home

Episode #011

New Pitts Mortuary owner Michelle Pitts has seen how the odds are against black males when it comes to senseless gun deaths. In Wisconsin, African Americans are 30 times...

The Thao Family’s Immigration Story

Episode #010

Somboon Thao and his family escaped a repressive life in Laos to start better one in the United States. But then the worst thing imaginable happened. Somboon Thao’s...

Getting a House Back to a Home

Episode #009

Latoshia Stewart tries to feel whole again after the murder of her daughter. In December 2010, 18 year old Markus Evans took 17 year old Jonoshia Alexander’s life on her...

Breaking Ground to Break the Cycle of Violence

Episode #007

Will a new center for domestic violence victims reduce the likelihood that a kid or teen will pick up a gun? This past October, Milwaukee broke ground on what will be the...

Virtually Mourning Darius Simmons

Episode #006

16-year-old Pierre Johnson has lost 3 close friends to gun violence in the past 2 years. Facebook helps him cope. In May of 2012, 13-year-old Darius Simmons was shot...

Pick-Up Game

Episode #005

Anthony Barksdale returns to Marcus DeBack for the first time in 20 years. The last time he was at the park, he witnessed the shooting of his best friend. Milwaukee was...

But I Couldn’t Fix Him…

Episode #004

As a pediatric nurse Lisa heals people all of the time, but twenty years ago she couldn’t heal the one she wanted to the most… her son. Nine year old Marcus DeBack was...

More Than a Teacher

Episode #003

An art teacher changes her lesson plan to personalized guns after many of her students mourn the death of 17 year old Precise Martin. Trace Matabele was teaching art in...

History Repeating Itself

Episode #002

The recent shooting of 5 year old Laylah Petersen snapped Betzy Torres back to the day she was shot 22 years ago in 1993. Betzy was five when she was shot in her home on...

How Do You Measure the Loss of a Five-Year-Old Girl?

Episode #001

Laylah Petersen’s mother, Ashley Fogl, and close family friend, Amanda Legler, express their questions, thoughts and feelings after the tragedy of the 5-year-old’s...