I pulled the same shit, when I was younger.

( it's not a secret, and it's not something he feels the need to hide. jason hasn't been there for a while now, there hasn't been--time, mostly. )

He's trying to corral crime by controlling it. Keep drugs out of the hands of kids by keeping the dealers from working 'round schools, fuck up the worst of 'em by throwing his own minions at 'em. Sometimes it takes a bad person to stop worse shit from happening.