Community members and police officers gathered on Wednesday July 20th at the Ride For Peace, a block party and community bike ride event organized by the 24th and 25th Police Districts. The event featured activities geared towards children including a moon bounce, dunk tank, face painting, and a meet and greet with the K9 unit.

   Captain Michael Cram of the 25th District was in attendance. One of the primary organizers of the block party, Cram spoke to Spirit News about his past experiences with community outreach.

   “We like to do a lot of community stuff. It’s our main focus other than fighting crime,” he explained. “I did a ton of this stuff in the 26th District. We started the 5th and York community fair when I was down there so I wanted to do something similar here. So I figured, let’s do it here because we have the PAL Center. People around here don’t get a lot of peace and quiet so we wanted to get those kids out of the house to have some fun.”

   Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez of the 7th District rode as well, citing the importance of events such as this in the wake of the recent tragedies leading to growing tensions between police and community.

   “Given what’s happened in the last couple of weeks, it’s a different country,” Quiñones-Sánchez said. “We understand now more than ever the value of the community working with the police.”

   The block party was held at 100 W Somerset, west of the intersection of Front and Somerset, a hotbed of drug activity. “This is also a community that has a lot of need in it, two of the poorest zip codes in Pennsylvania,” Cram explained. “So we figured, let’s do our event for the kids where they need it most.”

   Children from Lighthouse PAL at 141 W Somerset came flooding out to the block party once the riders continued on their route, waiting eagerly to jump in the moon bounce or play tug-of-war with one of the K9 dogs.

   Inspector Mike McCarrick of the East Police Division, explained, “It’s a great way to engage kids from the neighborhood in a positive manner and to give them an opportunity on a nice summer day to get out and have some fun.”

   “This intersection of Front and Somerset has become ground-zero for heroin and safety issues,” Quiñones-Sánchez explained. “It’s great that the 24th and 25th District understand the importance of coming out and talking to the community. Because we want to show the neighbors that we’re not leaving and we’re gonna be here, fighting with them to reclaim their community.”