Volunteers for patrols stepping up

ORGANIZERS of the "10,000 Men: A Call to Action" campaign say more than a thousand men have enlisted so far in the effort to flood Philadelphia's most crime-ridden neighborhoods with volunteer peacekeepers.

"I think we'll get more than 10,000 men out," said Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson at a meeting yesterday to enlist community leaders in the effort.

About 80 people from a variety of groups showed up at the African American Museum, where Mayor Street exhorted them to build a sustained crime-fighting and community-building effort.

"I'm not talking about just getting 9,999," Street said "There is something to the number of 10,000."

Organizers hope to draw 10,000 men to an Oct. 21 event at the Liacouras Center, at Temple University, where they'll be directed to orientation sessions at city recreation centers in the days following.

The plan is to then dispatch them in large numbers to crime-ridden areas, where Street said "they can just be a presence in a neighborhood that needs to see men."

Police commanders will be involved in the orientation sessions and will direct the peacemakers to critical areas and maintain contact as they patrol.

The focus of the effort is on African-American communities and recruiting African-American volunteers, and nearly all of those attending yesterday were black.

Johnson and record-industry mogul Kenny Gamble, a key organizer of the effort, said the focus is on the black community because that's where the city's violent crime is concentrated.

"This isn't happening in the Irish community. It's not happening in the Italian community, and it's not happening in Chinatown," Gamble said.

"All men are welcome," Johnson said, "but Afro-American men have an obligation to protect their women, their children and their elderly."

Radio host and executive E. Steven Collins said all of the city's black-oriented radio stations are promoting the campaign.

Former city managing director Joe Certaine, who managed field operations for several political campaigns, has joined the effort to organize patrols after the Oct. 21 event.

Volunteers will be asked to commit two to three hours a day for at least 90 days in the effort. You can learn more at www.10000 menphilly.com. *