Calling for backup

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 13th.

This is WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’re along with us today. Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Today on Concurrently: The News Coach Podcast, Kelsey Reed and Jonathan Boes break down an AP report on the growing trend of religious nones. “N-O-N-E-S,” as in “nothing.” Why are people leaving —and how should Christian educators respond? Here’s a preview:

REED: I understand those instincts, I understand the desire to be in a place with maybe unfettered freedom, or at least that encourages the enjoyment of life and of the beauty of creation, but has taken all of that off of the foundation of the One who created it in the first place.

BOES: Everything that the nones hate about religion is actually not a part of true religion, and almost everything they love about "spirituality" is part of true religion. One person left because a pastor refused to visit a dying relative because that person wasn't a member of the church. You know, that's against so much of what we see in Scripture, we see in Scripture that visiting the sick and the needy is so essential to faith. It doesn't matter whether or not they're part of the church and other person talks about, you know, they can't accept the picture of a big bearded dude in the sky. Obviously, that's not the true picture of the Christian God. Down the line, every single thing that is seen as a critique of the church here, those problems aren't arising from something intrinsic to religion, I would say again, analyzing against a biblical worldview, what these problems are arising from is something intrinsic to humans, which we would call sin.

You can hear the entire episode of Concurrently today wherever you get your podcasts. And find out more at concurrentlypodcast.com.

REICHARD: Coming next on The World and Everything in It: private security.

In some American cities, residents are getting fed up with increased crime. They say the police don’t respond fast enough. So they are banding together to hire private security firms to patrol their streets.

EICHER: What is it like for a security guard to work in an environment so dangerous?

WORLD senior writer Emma Freire took a ride along with a security guard in Baltimore to find out.

EMMA FREIRE, REPORTER: It’s early evening in Federal Hill park. Families are out enjoying the lingering sunlight. Groups of friends stand around talking. Others sit on benches overlooking Baltimore’s inner harbor.

SOUND: [Dirt bikes]

Suddenly the peace is shattered by the sound of dirt bikes.

A group of five or six young men ride straight through the park. They’re wearing ski masks. They stop at the best spot overlooking the harbor. And then they just hang out. They seem to have no plans to go anywhere.

Federal Hill Park closes at dusk. One man is in charge of clearing the park. He goes around politely but firmly telling people it’s time to go home. His name is Brian Askew. But he’s not a police officer. He doesn’t even work for the city of Baltimore. He’s a private security guard.

AUDIO: [Askew talking on radio]

Confronting hooligans is a dangerous job.

BRIAN ASKEW: So some of them are actually armed. Some of them commit robbery, some of them, you know, do a couple of different things. So it just all depends on what's kind of going on. You know, for the most part, I don't know why they come to Federal Hill and do all of that. It really makes absolutely no sense at all.

Askew is the founder of Matcom, a private security firm. The people who live around Federal Hill park hired the company to help limit criminal activity.

ASKEW: Federal Hill is a beautiful place. But then Federal Hill on the public safety side, it goes from zero to 100, just like that, and a lot of people don't see that that portion of it.

Askew grew up in Virginia. He didn’t set out to do private security. He started Matcom as a dispatch company.

ASKEW: It started off as a joke, actually, we were watching Alaska State Troopers. And I said, Well, you know, I think I could do this, or I could start a little dispatch company. And my family busted out laughing. And they thought it was the funniest thing in the world. But they saw that I was, I was serious like this, I meant business. So we opened our doors January 17, of 2017. And we have about 15 agencies now that we dispatch for.

Last year, Askew and Matcom started offering private security guard services. His first contract was with Federal Hill.

Baltimore is struggling with a severe police shortage. The police department has over 500 vacancies and crime rates are high. In 2022, there were 335 reported homicides even though Baltimore has fewer than 600,000 residents.

Askew and his employees look a bit like police officers. They drive decommissioned police Crown Victorias and they carry badges that prove they are certified by the state of Maryland. But there are important differences:

ASKEW: So here in Maryland, there's no such thing as arrest in the capacity of guards or private police or special police. You can detain them until Baltimore city gets here, or whatever county you're in.

The idea to hire private security in Federal Hill goes back three years, to a man named Ian Neuman. He lives walking distance from Federal Hill Park.

IAN NEUMAN: I moved in here in 1978. So I've been here for quite awhile.

In September 2020, crime in Federal Hill had gotten so bad that Neuman and some of his neighbors decided to take action.

NEUMAN: it was a group of us that after a particularly bad spat, like one person being shot and murdered up in the park around the corner, because somebody didn't like the dice game or results, and then catty corner to us, one of our neighbors got carjacked, at five o'clock in the afternoon, we all decided we should try to do something.

Neuman and some of his neighbors banded together to hire a private security firm to patrol their streets.

They ask residents to contribute $300 a year.

NEUMAN: And that allows us to hire an outside security firm, to patrol our streets five nights a week. And we always do Friday and Saturday after that we make a decision depending on what we think's going on as to what other nights it is we patrol it at different hours of the night, but it's mainly at the nighttime during the day, we don't do that much patrolling.

Residents who contribute money get Matcom’s phone number and a smartphone app with a panic button so they can get help when they need it.

That service costs about $45,000 a year. Matcom only patrols between May and November because crime is lower in the winter. That also helps keep costs down.

Neuman tells Askew to use his judgment when patrolling Federal Hill Park. If people are minding their business, they can stay.

NEUMAN: Federal Hill Park is not owned by Federal Hill neighborhood. It is owned by the city. I come up and say I know the park is closed. But if somebody is there with their girlfriend at one o'clock at night, taking a romantic walk, you better not be bothering them to get out of the park. If somebody's doing something nefarious, that's a different thing. And we.. you know, drug dealers or prostitution or dice games.

Askew shares the work of patrolling Federal Hill with two other guards. They send Neuman reports each night.

The young men on dirt bikes loitering at dusk end up leaving without any trouble. But Askew and his team regularly prevent crimes from happening.

Sometimes in the early morning hours, they’ll disrupt groups of young people that are going around trying the door handles of cars to find ones that are unlocked so they can steal what’s inside.

Despite the dangers, Askew finds his work meaningful and rewarding.

ASKEW: We started the protective services firm because we wanted to be involved. We wanted to have an invested interest in the safety and well being of Baltimore. And in the same you know, we want to make Baltimore become the greatest comeback story in America, and we will you know.

That could take a while. In the meantime, Askew and Neuman are determined to make life in Federal Hill at least a little bit safer.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Emma Freire.

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