PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It's been a quality of life issue in Philadelphia and other cities: Vehicles take over an intersection to race, do donuts and create mayhem. And now, as the weather warms, Philadelphia police are making a special effort to discourage dangerous car meetups in the city.
"Do we think we're going to get it down to zero? No. We recognize that anyone can pop up at any time to do that, but we are putting in an immense amount of effort,” said Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.
Police have formed a car meetup investigative group, which has detectives sharing intelligence with patrol officers, especially detectives with expertise on social media, where these gatherings are promoted.
Inspector Ray Evers says police are also using cellphone analysis and data collection to get ahead of car meets, and investigate them should they happen.
There was a huge meetup last September in 11 locations throughout the city, dubbed "Project X" by organizers. Since that event, police have arrested 27 people and seized 50 cars.
Evers says once police identify vehicles at a car meet, they're entered into a national crime database. One car was stopped earlier this year in Georgia with guns and drugs inside — an indication, Evers said, that car meetups could easily become even more dangerous.