North Charleston gets creative to fight retaliatory violence

North Charleston police are using a new weapon to combat retaliatory killings — the preacher.

Faced with a growing number of homicides in recent years and the daunting realization that many of them are retaliation killings, police and clergy members have teamed up with a novel idea to stop the violence.

Now, when there's a homicide, it won't be just the investigation team and victims advocates that show up to talk to the victim's family. Police are bringing in the families' church leaders to talk with them about the consequences of revenge.

"We as clergy will come to be peacemakers," said the Rev. Augustus Robinson Jr., senior pastor of Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church on Ashley Phosphate Road.

Police Chief Jon Zumalt said he's anxious to see what the effect will be.

"We're seeing things differently now," Zumalt said. "This is just a whole different approach."

It's just one of the changes police and community leaders together are making to drive straight to the heart of violence in North Charleston.

A group of police supervisors, pastors, neighborhood civic club leaders, business men, community activists and more have joined forces to create change. There's about 20 of them in all, and they've been meeting monthly since March.

They are already seeing some progress.

Read more in Friday's editions of The Post and Courier.