Hand in hand, police officers and citizens gathered to take a stand against violence Saturday morning in Dallas.
"Somebody needs to do something, we cannot continue this way, we cannot continue to have multiple murders every day," said Sherri Mata, director of education for the Journey Forward organization.
Dallas police officer Michael Lee organized the event. As the neighborhood police officer in Deep Ellum, he said he sees the impact violent crime has on a community.
"That's where I came up with 'We Stand as One' -- police officers and citizens coming together for one common goal," Lee said.
Citizens came from across North Texas to show their support.
"We want to take a stand against crime to make sure that our communities are safe for all," said Roger McLaughlin of Denton.
With the rise of violent crime in Dallas, mental health and victims support groups are flooded with new cases. Many wanted to be at the event on Saturday to let people know they are available to help.
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"Just to show that we are in this together," said Tammy Mayo, volunteer with the Journey Forward organization.
The goal of "We Stand as One" is for police officers and citizens to come together for one common goal. Organizers said they hoped the march was just the first of many to come.
"We'd like to see this grow, we'd like to see this as an annual event and get more communities involved, we'd like to fill these streets to unify our city," said DPD Central Patrol Deputy Chief Thomas Castro.
"This is a start that hopefully we can encourage some of the neighborhoods that we don't have as good of relationship in -- we're asking them to meet us half way, hoping that we can grow together."
