Gray deploys firefighters to protect summer youth workers

The Vincent Gray administration is deploying firefighters to street corners to help protect members of the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program on payday. Youths enrolled in the program have routinely been mugged on paydays in summers past. The city has tried different tactics to keep kids working government-sponsored jobs from being targeted, including dropping paychecks for debit cards. But Mayor Gray’s solution is to put firefighters in harm’s way to keep the robberies from happening under his watch, said firefighter representatives.