'It gives me light and it gives me hope where we can begin to see kids outside, riding their bikes, the parks back full and you know, being able to have safe havens,' a woman said.
All those efforts will now be extending for another month.
"When people use firearms in our community, we have to be relentless in our follow up in order to apprehend them and that is really what we have been doing," Armstrong explained. In the last month there have been nine homicides including one Monday. That number is compared to 17 murders the month before.Violence interrupters explain while crime wont end overnight, they can see the impacts.
"We have had more townhall meetings where the community is being back engaged, so his strategy has really impacted the city and awaken a lot of people," said Nina Carter with Youth Alive. Chief Armstrong said more help is on the way as the department is adding officers to their criminal investigation unit along with two dozen new graduates joining the department this week. That amount plus 15 more officers that will be added at the end of this year through Department of Justice funds will bring the total number of officers to 700 after sever understaffing.