Homicides are up in Philadelphia, and though city and police leaders are working to reverse the disturbing trend, they say there is no quick fix.
The murder rate has been rising steadily over the past decade: 406 were killed last year compared with 292 in 1999. This year figures to be worse, with 115 killed this year so far compared with 103 at this point last year.
Initiatives such as Mayor John Street's "Operation Safer Streets" were implemented last year in an attempt to slow the rise, and, two weeks ago, Philadelphia Police started requiring all top-brass officers to take a patrol shift one night per week.
This requirement adds 40 officers with ranks of captain or above to the streets every day, Philadelphia Police Sgt. D.F. Pace said.
In addition, Pace said, the PPD examines crime data to identify "some of the hot spots" and deploys additional resources to those areas, and a new unit was created last year specifically to "focus on areas of high crime and high violence."
And though Qualli said an additional 200 police officers will be hired this year, he noted that "there's no magical fix" to the crime problem.
One root cause of this violence, he said, is the "breakdown in civility" in the city "fueled by the easy accessibility of guns."
"Small arguments now result in shootings, he said."
Criminology department Chairman Lawrence Sherman said homicide has been rising steadily in the city for five years.
He attributed the increase to a number of factors, such as the fact that many of the children raised during the crack-cocaine epidemic of the late 1980s and early 1990s are now at the prime age to commit homicide.
Sherman added that the imprisonment rate in Pennsylvania, which recently "skyrocketed," put many parents behind bars.
Some mayoral initiatives target the city's youth directly in an effort to prevent children from traveling down a path of crime. Curfew laws prevent children under from roaming the streets after 10:30 pm on school nights, and after midnight on weekends.
By the end of this year, the city will have 12 curfew centers, where police will bring violators, Qualli said.
These centers are effective because parents are required to pick up their children from the centers, giving staff members an opportunity to assess them as well, he said.
Qualli pointed to a drop last year in juvenile shooting rates in South Philadelphia between 45 and 50 percent as evidence that these reforms are working.
But there is much to be done to further reduce the number of homicides, and "crime is the number one issue for the mayoral race" this year, Sherman said.
"We've got to get the homicide rate down," he said.
And while Penn seems relatively unaffected by the rise in Philadelphia murders - there were only two within its patrol zone last year - the Division of Public Safety is still worried.
"We are concerned about the level of violence," Vice President of Public Safety Maureen Rush said.
"What we see is a huge amount of violent crime, a surge of violent crime all around our borders" that could potentially spill over into Penn's campus if the situation worsens, Rush said.
"It is very, very dangerous right now," she said.
About this series: This week, the 'DP' examines the Penn Police Department and Philadelphia crime
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