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Operation Pressure Point will target Phila. trouble spots

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

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

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

The first Operation Pressure Point, held last summer, was considered a success, Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said Friday.

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

Targeted police districts include the 12th in Southwest Philadelphia; the 14th and 35th, which include 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, encompassing West Philadelphia and Mantua; and the 22d, 24th, 25th, and 39th, which include North Philadelphia, Kensington, Hunting Park, Port Richmond, and other neighborhoods.

All of those but the 17th were targets last year in a seven-month effort that resulted in 1,775 arrests, seizure of 247 guns, and confiscation of nearly $5 million worth of drugs.

Eighteen agencies are participating, including the state police, U.S. Marshal's Service, FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives, the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, and the state Board of Probation and Parole.

Like last year, the agencies will increase patrols in the targeted areas and track down fugitives wanted on arrest warrants or other outstanding charges. In the event of shootings, officers will be dispatched in an effort to prevent retaliatory violence. Authorities also plan to visit 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 to reduce the crime rate. Homicides fell by 8 percent last year over 2008, and violent crime citywide went down 9 percent, police said.