NEW CITY ANTI-CRIME PLAN SAFE STREETS: THE SEQUEL

Newly minted Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross certainly knows how to
talk the talk, promising that he will personally hit the streets to make
city neighborhoods safer. But Philadelphians have had enough talk; they
want to see results.

Ross and Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson are promising those, too.
Their new crime-fighting strategy will include daily reports of the
previous night's crime statistics.

"The bottom line is if there's one less person that gets it that night,
then that's a win," said Ross.

By "gets it," he is referring to being shot, something that has been
experienced by more than 1,000 Philadelphians so far this year. As of
Saturday, 232 people had been shot to death in the city, compared to 203 at
the same time last year.

Ross, promoted earlier this month from captain of the homicide unit, is
Johnson's choice to oversee a new strategy that includes the reassignment
of up to 700 officers. Plainclothes narcotics cops are being ordered back
into uniform to work alongside highway patrol officers at selected
high-crime locations.

The officers' focus will be to lock up criminals before they get a chance
to shoot someone. Because federal laws for gun violations are tougher, two
U.S. attorneys are being assigned to work with police in each of the city's
six detective divisions.

Philadelphians will be grateful if Johnson's new "offensive," as he calls
it, works better than previous strategies that were announced with even
louder bells and whistles.

Safe Streets seemed like the right program to combat drugs and violence by
putting police on every major narcotics corner in the city. But it proved
too expensive, with unbearable overtime costs. Perhaps Johnson's new
strategy is Safe Street's needed second act.

Philadelphia several years ago introduced a New York-style Compstat
tracking system to chart which neighborhoods are experiencing increases in
crime. Commanders whose numbers went up were supposed to feel the heat from
their superiors. Ross is putting himself in the bull's-eye by promising to
use overnight violent crime numbers to judge his own success.

A 16-year veteran, Ross is a Central High graduate who holds a masters
degree in criminal justice. His new position gives him a chance to prove
his mettle with a much broader law enforcement effort than heading the
homicide unit.

In discussing his new violent crime offensive, Johnson also dismissed
rumors that he is considering retirement. He said he has no plans to leave
before Mayor Street's term ends in two years. That means he has plenty of
time to make sure his legacy is a truly safer city for all.