The Philadelphia Police Department recently increased the number of targeted police districts from nine to 12, which will include heavier patrolling just north of Penn's campus.
Despite the city's budget problems, the 16th, 23rd and 24th districts were added to the list of high-crime areas slated for extra focus in response to spikes in violent crimes.
"They were on the border of being part of the nine in the beginning," said Lt. Frank Vanore, a Philadelphia Police spokesman. "Their crimes this year have qualified them to be part of the [original] nine."
The 16th district is located in West Philadelphia north of Market Street and includes much of Drexel University's campus. The 23rd district is located north of Center City. The 24th district is located in the lower part of Northeast Philadelphia.
These districts saw 15 percent, 69 percent and 37 percent increases in homicides in 2008, respectively, though the number of homicides was reduced by 15.3 percent citywide last year.
"The crime [in these three districts] was not going down as it was in other districts," Vanore said.
The original nine districts were the 12th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 22nd, 25th, 35th and 39th districts, according to Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey's Crime Fighting Strategy.
Ramsey's decision to add three more to the list came after the original targets showed success through significant decreases in the number of violent crimes.
The 18th district, which includes most of University City, covers Penn's campus.
Targeted police districts are patrolled using "intelligent policing," according to Vanore. Commanding officers of targeted districts hold more frequent crime briefings, usually once a week, with Ramsey.
"They look very closely at what occurred in the past week, looking for trends and patterns," Vanore said.
Ramsey's Jan. 2008 Crime Fighting Strategy said that he would "immediately increase the number of sworn personnel required [in the targeted districts] to implement this strategy."
However, the Police Department currently has limited additional resources to use in the targeted districts because of the city's budget crisis.
"When the manpower and resources are available, more resources can be dropped into these areas," Vanore said.
The number of homicides in the original targets decreased 27.7 percent, about 12 percent more than the city average, according to a police report. The number of shooting victims fell 16.7 percent, about 5 percent better than the citywide decrease.
