District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser‘s nominee for a gun safety agency pledged Monday to reform it amid a bribery scandal that involved a key councilman to the program, Trayon White.
Kwelli Sneed, the interim director of the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, is being considered to lead the agency permanently.
ONSE is a violence prevention agency that uses “violence interrupters” to de-escalate conflicts on the street and avoid gun fights. The agency is looking for a permanent leader after Sneed led it for 18 months.
“My vision for ONSE is for our work to continue to drive down gun violence. Right now we’re seeing a marked reduction that we will build upon,” Sneed said. “If given the opportunity to continue to serve in this role on a permanent basis, I intend to finish the work my team and I started. We are seeing lives change, and we all are committed to this work.”
ONSE is looking to reform and rethink how it measures its effectiveness. That will likely be a harder job while it’s under close watch after White was arrested by the FBI for accepting thousands in cash in exchange for using his influence to secure ONSE contracts for an associate.
The associate was an FBI informant and the executive director of a top ONSE contractor. White has pleaded not guilty.
Sneed has tried to distance the agency from the scandal. “ONSE has not been indicted,” Sneed said. “The actions that took place were very unfortunate, but this was not an indictment on ONSE; this was not an indictment on its leadership team.”
A review of the company’s contracts following White’s arrest found no “willful wrongdoing” by ONSE employees. However, the review did find that the agency gave out many sole-source grants without requiring applicants to compete.
While Sneed has Bowser’s approval, others are more skeptical.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Councilwoman Brooke Pinto said the agency has stretched itself too thin and hasn’t focused enough on gun violence.
“I worry that as we try to meet those very real human needs, we are moving ourselves from the core mission of driving down gun violence and ultimately undermining our ability to be effective,” Pinto said. “We cannot be all things to all people in any one agency. That has been a concern of mine with ONSE.”