Philadelphia police, Attorney General's office team up to help reduce crime in West Philadelphia
Philadelphia Police, Attorney General's office team up to help reduce crime in West Philadelphia
Capt. Matthew Gillespie joins Good Day Philadelphia to talk about the efforts made by Philadelphia officials to reduce gun crime in West Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA - Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and the Philadelphia Police Department announced new efforts that have helped reduce crime in West Philadelphia.
At the same time, AG Shapiro called for Philadelphia to get tougher on crime amid the city’s rising gun violence. He’s calling for more police officers, responsible bail practices and ending ghost gun loopholes that allow untraceable weapons into the city.
In a press conference with Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw Tuesday, Shapiro stated that we must stop letting dangerous criminals out on cash bail.
However, in spite of the issue of cash bail, officials say that Philadelphia police and the Attorney General’s office have decreased shootings by 45% in the 18th District and 26% in the 19th District since July.
There were 63 gun seizures and 178 arrests since the program launched earlier in 2021.
"Working together across law enforcement and directly with the community, we can work to dismantle the gun and drug trafficking organizations that threaten public safety," said AG Shapiro "Getting these guns off the streets is only one step in tackling the violence, it is a start and we are seeing an impact."
In Kensington, the Strategic Response Team focused on dismantling corrupt organizations through projects like the Kensington Initiative. So far this year, they have secured 50 firearms and made 213 arrests.
Capt. Matthew Gillespie joined Good Day Philadelphia on Wednesday to discuss the new efforts as well.
Gillespie called the ongoing gun violence "completely unacceptable" and "devastating" as he spoke of previous crimes that claimed the lives of young Philadelphians.
As a result of these new efforts, officers have been given permission to do things slightly differently such as changing schedules to help reduce the crime happening on the streets.
Part of what they're doing so far isn't visually noticeable, according to Captain Gillespie but there is undercover work going on in these communities.
According to Captain Gillespie, he believes this is one of the solutions that will work towards helping recover Philadelphia. He believes it is important to invest in the community as well, which is something the Philadelphia Police Department is working to do so far.
The partnership that is seeing results has been expanded to the 12th and 16th districts as well.
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