The Philadelphia Police Department will deploy more officers to high-crime areas following a year in which the city surpassed 500 homicides.
Beginning Monday, more than 100 officers will be dispersed in four districts in North Philadelphia, Kensington and the Tioga-Nicetown areas, Fox Philadelphia reported. The officers will be a combination of 40 new police graduates and 60 administrative officers for 30-workday cycle that will last several weeks and repeat throughout the year.
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The areas targeted account for nearly half of the city's gun violence, the news outlet said.
"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 said told the news station.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the police department.
John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order Police Lodge, the police union that represents rank-and-file officers in the city, called the move a "safety issue" in support of patrol officers not getting any backup on the street.
Oronde McClain, a community member who was shot in the head when he was a child, told Fox Philadelphia he supports the additional police presence.
"We need more cops," McClain said. "If there are no cops in the neighborhood, there's more crime."
Philadelphia ended 2022 with 516 killings, down from 562 the year prior. As of Thursday night, the city experienced 4 murders, according to police data.
