One of Baltimore's most beloved communities will soon get its own private security force in the wake of a citywide crime wave, a business leader said Tuesday. Gia Blattermann, owner of Cafe Gia on Eastern Avenue and High Street in Little Italy, said she has been in discussions with officials at the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore to add an extra layer of security and community safety to the neighborhood in response to a spike in crime that included a foiled armed assault of a deacon at St. Leo's Roman Catholic Church on Friday near the parish rectory.

"We’re Little Italy, we take care of ourselves and we have to take it into our own hands," Blattermann said, adding that the city police department has been stretched thin this summer with a soaring homicide rate that hit 197 on Tuesday. Blattermann's comments came as business owners in the tight-knit community were only learning of the latest incident there: the attempted assault of St. Leo's Deacon Doug Kendzierski around 9 p.m. Friday as the classic movie "The Godfather" was beginning during an open-air summer film festival nearby.