Crackdown on weekend chaos, violence as Philadelphia Police deploy Surge Team
PHILADELPHIA - The weekend is here and so is a brand-new plan put forth by Philadelphia police to tackle weekends with a new strategy.
Over the course of the last few years, a number of incidents have occurred Friday and Saturday nights throughout the city.
Relieved business owners and law-abiding citizens will be happy to see large gatherings of law enforcement deployed and ready wherever the social car meetups convene, or as massive gatherings happen, or when people make the effort to shut down highways and major intersections.
Just two Saturdays ago, 500 young people met up at Broad and Cecil B. Moore and, as soon as police showed up, detectives learned a teen with a stolen gun started shooting.
Suspect sought after gunshots, huge crowd of juveniles cause chaos near Temple: officials
Philadelphia police were forced to step in as turmoil unfolded near Temple’s campus Saturday night, and now officials are searching for a suspect they say shot off at least two gunshots among the rowdy group of juveniles.
"One of the things we will be doing to combat some of the incidents we’ve seen is that we will be deploying a mobile surge team that will be compiled of a large contingent of officers," PPD First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford explained. "They will traverse throughout with the idea in mind of crime fighting, but also being available for any of the planned or unplanned type of incidents that we’ve seen across the city, such as those large gatherings of individuals, car meet activities, or any type of major incident."
MORE RELATED COVERAGE:
- Videos show drivers doing illegal donuts, burnouts as crowds take over Philadelphia intersection
- Officials: Drag racers vandalize police cars as altercations erupt in Fishtown and North Philly
- New rules for children under 18 go into effect at the Fashion District Monday
- ‘This is a parental issue’: Philly police respond to ‘disorderly’ juveniles in Center City
- Police: Off-duty security guard shot in leg while walking to bus near Fashion District
Regular sights of a surge of marked police cars and uniformed officers may eventually work as a deterrent to prevent more big get togethers and large dirt bike and ATV riding groups.
The Surge Team will be made of supervisors at police headquarters, tactical and administrative officers, revved up and ready to go. Regular patrol officers will not be pulled from their regular beats.