A Philadelphia City Council special committee on gun violence prevention, held a hearing online on Oct. 13.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — At a Philadelphia City Council gun violence prevention committee hearing on Wednesday, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw noted that some districts have ramped up arrests in certain areas. It was one of many such hearings held throughout the year.
"When you look at our weekly trends, our homicide and shooting victims appear to be fluctuating since last August," Outlaw said.
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"While this past week we are down from our high of 20 homicides and 71 criminal shooting victims from the previous [week], we are actually higher than we were in late August."
More than 431 people have been killed in Philadelphia so far in 2021, the highest number on record for any year, just nine and a half months in.
Outlaw also explained that the Police Department employs about 5,100 officers, the lowest number in decades.
"I want to remind folks that our staffing levels are down 8.2% since 2016," Outlaw said.
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"In addition to that, we have about 1,000 officers out, whether it’s due to [injured on duty], restrictive duty, so on and so forth, so we are doing what we can with what we have."
District Attorney Larry Krasner pushed for a boost in forensic funding and says his office is pushing for higher bail in court for those accused in shootings, but not always getting it.
The committee will meet again next month.
