Residents and officials respond to rise in crime near the Opportunity Center for the Homeless

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Crime is continuing to rise in the neighborhood surrounding the Opportunity Center for the Homeless, according to both residents and officials. Now, residents are speaking out about their fears and what they want done.

"I think the cops need to step up and do something right away. They need to make us feel safe," said one resident of Myrtle Avenue who asked to remain anonymous. "Talk to the Opportunity Center. Something has to happen."

This comes after a violent weekend of two separate incidents; a shooting Thursday and a barricaded suspect Saturday. But those aren't the only crimes committed in the neighborhood over the last several months and years.

"Crime has been rapidly increasing," another anonymous resident said. "Year by year."

The resident ABC-7 spoke to said his car window was shot in Thursday's shooting. He said the bullet is still lodged in the backseat of his car.

ABC-7 reached out to the El Paso Police Department for comment, but has not heard back as of this article's publication. However, Deputy Director of the Opportunity Center John Martin said that the center and the police department have been working together closely for years.

"One of our best partners in the community is the El Paso Police Department. And we're incredibly proud of the work that they've done to be able to try to control this," said Martin. "They recognize that it's not the Opportunity Center. The Opportunity Center, to many, would be the magnet. It's the draw for that other element that's coming in at that point."

That other element, according to Martin, is the presence and dealing of drugs in the community. Martin said that the residents of the center fall victim to the neighborhood's crime as well.

"The reality of it is that when you work with the homeless, they're very vulnerable. And we do have a population within the community that is taking advantage of that vulnerability. And it's predominately drug use. And that's really where are concern has been, especially so within the last couple of months, where we've seen the number of incidents increase outside, as well as we've seen a large number of overdoses within the community," said Martin. "We do have a ready supply of Narcan. And so to a great extent, our staff - and sometimes our residents that act as volunteers - are actually the ones that are out there saving lives."