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NYPD Honors Grandmothers Working To Cut Violent Crime In Brooklyn

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The NYPD has a secret weapon when it comes to bringing down murder and violence in Brooklyn.

As WCBS 880's Monica Miller reported, police commissioner Ray Kelly has credited an unlikely group for the drop in violent crimes.

"In 2011, I was happy to announce that Brooklyn went below 200 murders for the first time in 50 years. Well, in 2012 it was below 150 murders," Kelly told Miller at a rally against violence in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

NYPD Honors Grandmothers Working To Cut Violent Crime In Brooklyn

The statistical drop in crimes is due in part to the two-year-old group Grandmother's LOV, Kelly said.

"I have 34 grandchildren and 42 great-grand," a woman named Lois told Miller.

One of her sons was shot and wounded, she told Miller.

Each member of the group was honored Tuesday with a certificate and a pin for their work to make their community safer.

Lois and her friend Clara of Grandmother's LOV - Love Over Violence - are considered by the NYPD to be de facto heads of the household and are working with the police to lend a hand to kids in trouble.

"We're tired of burying our children. We cannot walk behind coffins any more," Clara told Miller.

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