BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge has a crime problem, and the community is crying for help.

Shortly before a community meeting on crime solutions, another murder in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul says it's the small percentage of repeat offenders that are hurting the city.

"My experience tells me that when we make an arrest for the individual that was responsible today, I promise you it's not going to be the first time we dealt with them. What we're probably going to see is there some accountability from a previous arrest that hasn't concluded yet, and that's an area we have to do better at," Paul said.

That's why the Metropolitan Public Safety Committee was formed.

"The biggest concern of the community is not baseball games or traffic, it's crime. And that's consistent across every neighborhood in Baton Rouge," Baton Rouge Area Chamber President Adam Knapp said.

Council members have been working with the community on several initiatives; one being SafeBR, a coalition for anyone to join.

So far they have installed crime cameras, have plans to build an inspiration center for kids, and sponsored legislation on increased ankle monitoring for those released on bond.

"We were fortunate to get some legislation passed to put some standards on these tracking devices, something that we've been pushing for quite some time," Paul said.

"There are bigger cities than Baton Rouge with lower crime rates and the same amount of law enforcement officers per capita. That demonstrates to us that one, it can be done but it can't be done without a broad-based community initiative where everybody is at the table as part of the solution," Knapp said.

Safe Hopeful Happy BR is another group at the forefront of change. They host meetings every third Tuesday for people to get engaged and involved in their communities. 

"The youth can still do something and change the narrative for what it seems like what is happening and continuously happening," Ablaze Youth Ministries choir leader Mark Ellis said.

If you're interested in joining SafeBR or Safe Hopeful Happy BR links are provided to their website.