Safe Streets celebrates over a year of no homicides in Penn-North
By Barry Simms
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BALTIMORE, Maryland (WBAL) — A Baltimore community is celebrating progress. It’s been over a year with no homicides in the Penn-North neighborhood.
The celebration focused on the work Safe Streets and the community are doing together.
“I think it’s awesome,” Safe Streets worker Rochelle Johnson said. “We are working so much harder to continue on.”
It’s been exactly 478 days without any murders in the area served by Safe Streets violence interrupters.
Safe Streets started in 2019, after Penn-North became the epicenter of unrest in the aftermath of Freddie Gray’s death.
“It takes hard work, and you have to be dedicated to the work that you do,” Johnson said.
The group threw a party to celebrate that milestone and invited neighbors to enjoy music and food. Mayor Brandon Scott was in attendance.
“They’ve been out there interceding in conflict that could result in violence. We know our violence intervention workers have been doing their work every day without fanfare. They do it while being attacked,” Scott said.
Despite the dangers, Scott said those Safe Street workers help save lives.
“Most people are not going to run up to folks they know are so angry that they are willing to kill each other, and do that without a bullet-proof vest and intercede in that conflict immediately,” he said.
Scott also gave credit to other community members working to reduce crime and violence in the area.
“It’s not just about them. We have to think about our police officers out there, the folks who are doing hospital-based response, our community leaders, folks like ‘We Our Us,’ who have been out there in that neighborhood. This is about the completeness of our comprehensive violence strategy. This is what we’re going to continue to do,” Scott said.
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