BALTIMORE, Md. — On Thursday night there was a celebration of lives saved in Cherry Hill.
For the third time since 2015 the Safe Streets Cherry Hill has gone 365 days without a homicide.
“Easy it’s hard work, commitment everyday,” said Elgin Maith. “Coming out here extra days going above and beyond to make it happen.”
Over 162 people have been killed this year— and none of them were in Cherry Hill.
In the past 365 days they’ve mediated 409 conflicts.
71 percent of them had a high risk of violence.
“They probably involved someone that was either carrying a gun because they are known to carry guns or who actually had a gun on site,” said Shantay Jackson. “That’s what that means. That means they stopped over 200 potential shootings.”
Jackson, the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, presented the team with an award for excellence.
They don’t take a night or day off.
They get to conflicts quick before they become deadly.
“We don’t have guns, we don’t have tasers, we don’t have bullet proof vests,” said Keith Brown a Hospital Responder for Medstar Health with the post. “The only we have to stand on is our faith and our decision making.”
Kin Brown-Lane, a violence Interrupter said they work off of relationships.
“We have so many relationships, we can stop so much because of the relationships.”
These men and women come from a background of wrong doing themselves— they’ve turned their lives around to make a difference in their neighborhood.
“I’ve been to prison so when I come and talk to the young guys in the neighborhood they are willing to listen,” said James Shederick. “Once upon a time it would be false credibility. Now I take what was once a negative and I use it as a positive.”
Gerald Hinton said as people who have lived through the wrong choices that come with hustling they can show people what those choices lead to.
“All types of resources that we can have obstacles so they don’t go that way,” Hinton said. “The bottom line is prison and death.”
Hoping for another 365 days without a murder and to not only reduce shootings but eliminate them completely.
“It’s very painful that somebody lose their child and someone lose their life,” said site supervisor Damaal Award. “So yes it’s very gratifying that we went another year without a homicide.”
The Cherry Hill Safe Streets location is one of ten across the city.
