Crimefighters launch Operation Pressure Point 2010

Police on Friday announced the start of the second Operation Pressure Point, a multi-agency effort designed to flood the city's troubled neighborhoods with law enforcement authorities during summer weekends.

Continuing through Oct. 31, residents in parts of North Philadelphia, as well as areas of Southwest and West Philadelphia, will see increased police presence each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 4 p.m. through 3 a.m.

The first operation pressure point, held last summer, was considered a big success, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.

"We do have a lot of work to do," Ramsey said. "We have no idea what the summer will bring, but historically, summer and fall have not been kind to us, crimewise."

The districts targeted include the 12th, in Southwest Philadelphia; the 14th and 35th, which includes Olney, Logan and Germantown; the 15th, which covers Frankford, Mayfair and other Northeast neighborhoods; the 17th, which includes Point Breeze; the 16th, 18th and 19th, which encompass West Philadelphia and Mantua, and the 22, 24, 25th and 39th, which include North Philadelphia, Kensington, Hunting Park, Port Richmond and other neighbohoods.

All of those but the 17th District were targets last year when police conducted the first Operation Pressure Point, a seven-month effort that resulted in 1,775 arrests, 247 guns seized and nearly $5 million in drugs confiscated.

Eighteeen agencies are participating, including the state police, U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco, the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program and the state Board of Probation and Parole.

Like last year, these agencies will increase police patrols in the target areas and track down those who are wanted on arrest warrants or other outstanding charges. When shootings occur, officers will be deployed to those areas in an effort to prevent retaliatory violence. Authorities also plan on visiting so-called "nuisance bars" to ensure code compliance.

"We're going to come at this from all different angles," Ramsey said.

Ramsey and members of his administration credit last year's Operation Pressure Point with helping reduce the crime rate. Homicides went down 8 percent last year over 2008, and violent crime citywide went down 9 percent, police said.