(Memphis) The 901 BLOC Squad wants the City of Memphis to put-up more money to stop gun violence.
Since Friday, more than ten people have been shot in Memphis, and the men who’ve been appointed by the mayor to prevent these crimes says they need more people on their team.
The 901 BLOC Squad was put in place to focus on Frayser and Orange Mound, but they say the whole city needs its help and they hope the City can make that happen.
“We are not superheroes. We can’t stop everything,” said Squad Supervisor Delvin Lane.
The 901 BLOC Squad is trying to accomplish in Memphis what’s been done in L.A., significantly reduce gun violence.
“California has about 400 intervention workers. We have five,” laughed Lane.
Lane says in this case, size matters, and he wants to see the squad grow, “We just need more guys around the city because violence is jumping-off everywhere now.”
The group of men are former criminals who know the streets.
The mayor hired them to reach out to high-risk youth in pockets of South Memphis and Frayser.
Over the weekend, ten shootings happened around our city and only one of them occurred in a 901 BLOC squad zone.
Lane says five men can’t be everywhere to make an impact and prevent retaliation, “So it’s important that we get more help on the streets.”
Lane says in the areas they’ve targeted since October, they’ve seen a 30 to 40 percent reduction in gun crimes.
He hopes those numbers can convince the City to expand the squad so Lane and his crew can promote education and job training to those who know more about guns than how to shoot towards a positive future.
“We just need the shooting to stop,” said Lane. “I am begging and pleading they will stop shooting these guns.”
The 901 BLOC Squad is headed to Los Angeles Sunday to learn more about how that city’s strategy has worked.
He hopes to bring back something that has been successful there, getting gang members to agree to put down their guns for ten weeks during the summer.