By Ashley Silver
Police1
PHILADELPHIA — With the homicide rate in Pennsylvania’s largest city remaining at historic levels – seeing over 500 homicides in 2022 — officials are taking new measures to stop the violence from overtaking the city.
According to FOX 29 Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Police Department plans to strategically target the districts that account for nearly half of the city’s gun violence: North Philadelphia, Kensington and Tioga-Nicetown. The department will disseminate more than 100 officers to these districts, with 40 new police graduates being joined by 60 administrative officers for a 30-day cycle of coverage that will last for several weeks and repeat throughout the year.
“We’re in a time we’ve never seen before, having the amount of homicides we’ve had in the city and the amount of shooting victims,” First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford told FOX 29.
Philadelphia ended 2022 with 516 killings, down from 562 the year prior. As of Thursday night, the city experienced four murders, according to police data.
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