Members of Philadelphia City Council  met with Chester city and county  officials Tuesday to find out how Chester has managed a 63% drop in gun homicides, writes Alex Rose for the Daily Times.

Philadelphia has seen gun violence run out of control while Chester has had great success with its new anti-violence initiative.

Chester’s gun homicides have dramatically dropped in the first six months of 2021 compared to January to June of 2020.

There’s been a 44 percent drop in overall shooting victims, with Chester close to having the lowest number of shootings in a decade.  

Philadelphia, meanwhile, last month had the highest per capita murder rate of the country’s largest 10 cities.

Chester’s “Partners for Safe Neighborhoods” combines offers of help to influential people in Chester’s neighborhoods with a promise to prosecute and enforce aggressively if necessary.

“It’s all about collaboration and being able to work together,” Philadelphia City Council President Darrell L. Clarke. observed. “We are positioned to do some good things, but if we can’t work together – and I mean everybody work together, in public, in private – we’re not going to achieve what they’ve achieved down here in Chester”.

 Read more at the Daily Times about Chester’s successful anti-gun violence program.