PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A recently released report is taking a data-driven approach to solving gun violence, infrastructure and drug-related issues facing Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood.
Temple University criminal justice professor Caterina Roman, along with a team from the Kensington Initiative, co-authored the 24-page report last month. The Kensington Initiative, established in 2018, is led by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General and other law enforcement agencies to find ways to combat gun violence and the overdose epidemic.
“In my 30-plus years of evaluating neighborhood interventions to reduce violence, the neighborhood of Kensington is the most complex,” Roman said.
Over the past couple of years, the group studied factors like crime and drug use and also followed several drug trafficking investigations and subsequent arrests.
“What we did is look at whether shootings went down in the immediate period after the enforcement. And then, we also took a longer-term look and looked six months, 12 months to see what was happening,” Roman explained.
“We wanted to look at reductions in gun violence and reductions in overdose deaths. Those two were our key long-term measures.”
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Some of those drug operation takedowns had quick results — more kids playing outside, more people walking up and down the street, fewer people using drugs. However, different drug organizations quickly filled those voids.
For a possible longer-term solution, Roman said city agencies should get involved to clean up the blocks and help residents feel safer. But the key to long-term improvements, she advised, is involving neighbors, business owners and organizations.
The report also recommended an increase in state funding dedicated to drug law enforcement and greater collaboration between different levels of law agencies and the community.
“For something to change in Kensington, it needs to be all hands on deck,” she said.