Residents say police have been hard to miss on weekends.

I be out on the weekends and it feels nice. You can go wherever you want to go, Marcus Woods said. Its been pretty smooth.

While some welcome the extra patrols, others who have lived in the neighborhood for decades remain skeptical.

Instead of blocking off the streets they would be better just walking around, one resident said.

I lived through it in the 90s, said a man named Ike. Once they brought Project Exile in with all the guns it cleared the streets up a whole lot. You get caught with a gun, any gun, 5 years in penitentiary... they have no repercussions about worrying of going to jail.

Police Chief Rick Edwards told City Council on Tuesday that while cooler weather has thinned crowds, keeping Shockoe safe remains an uphill

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