Members of the Miami Gardens community, business owners and the police department gathered Thursday to discuss ways to make their community better.
One of the main topics at the "Coffee With The Cops" event was the crime and violence that have plagued the area recently.
"Something has to be done about violence and the unfortunate part is it’s young people killing people and it is a terrible circumstance," businessman Warren Zinn said. "We have bad people all over the place they are never going to go anywhere but we have to come together collectively to remove them."
One of the most horrific crimes to date the murder of 12-year-old Tequila Forshee, who was shot and killed while in the comfort of her grandmother's home getting ready to start a school year.
Then, in late October, 10 people were shot in the span of just 11 days, one of them an 11-year-old girl. Since then, interim Miami Gardens Police Chief Paul Miller says his department has stepped up its patrols.
"We are partnering with our patrol and our investigations division to actually identify who these people are," he said.
Several in attendance at Thursday's meeting called for the community to help.
"We must communicate with one another as well as the police department to find out what's really going on, what's causing the violence, what’s causing the young people to retaliate," resident Yaxley Jamison said.
Many said the goal is to help the young people in Miami Gardens realize violence isn’t the answer.
"Hopefully we can help them, make them feel like they are important and that they have value in their lives and that everybody should be able to live and work and make happy lives for themselves," Zinn said.
Most importantly, police are asking the community to help them in trying to make Miami Gardens a better place to live.
"There are 110,000 outstanding residents and business owners in this city, what we need to do is if they know of or see a crime come forward let us know," Miller said.
