EXCLUSIVE: Crime Down In City Of Brotherly Love
By Walt Hunter
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There's good news about crime for the first six months of this year in Philadelphia.
In an exclusive interview with CBS 3's Walt Hunter, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey revealed crime in every major category was down between January and June 30th.
Specifically, murders - which hit 202 for the same period in 2007 and plunged to 116 in 2013 - dropped again this year by one percent.
Telling Hunter," even one murder is too many," the Commissioner says he is "encouraged" by the crime numbers, which first made headlines one year ago and which continue to decline.
After 789 shootings in the first half of 2007 and 525 in the first six months of last year, Ramsey revealed shootings this year are down 7 percent.
Robbery is down 7 percent, burglary 11 percent and rape 15 percent.
Hunter was the first reporter ever given access to the Police Department's "War Room," a special planning area where commanders meet to formulate anti-crime strategies.
Ramsey says the proactive police approach begins with studying crime trends, identifying patterns and then deploying resources where they can have the most impact.
In addition, assaults against police dropped from 380 for the first six months of 2013 to 285 for the same period this year, while police shootings were down from 23 to 14.
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