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Tip line targets illegal firearms
The program offers tipsters a reward of up to $1,000. Some experts say its intent is good but doubt it will be effective.
By Sree Roy and Robert Moran
Inquirer Staff Writers
Amid a recent surge in murders in Philadelphia, Mayor Street launched a program yesterday to reward anonymous tipsters up to $1,000 for leading police to gun criminals.
Year after year, about 80 percent of the killings in the city are committed with handguns - giving Philadelphia the dubious distinction of having one of the nation's highest rates for gun use in homicides.
"We just can't get a handle on it," said Deputy Police Commissioner Robert Mitchell about the proliferation of firearms in the city.
Street first announced the illegal-gun initiative on May 1, the one-year anniversary of Operation Safe Streets, the city's crackdown on open-air drug dealing.
In June, Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz made the recent increase in murders a campaign issue, calling the then-22.4 percent rise an "epidemic."
Since then, the difference has shrunk to 16.6 percent, with 168 murders as of yesterday, compared with 144 through the same time last year.
Street said it would take an "extraordinary effort" to get illegal guns off the streets.
To help police toward that end, he said, a 24-hour hotline - 215-683-GUNS - has been activated.
Callers to the hotline will be given a confidential identification number. After providing all necessary information, the caller can check on the case a week later.
If an arrest is made, the tipster is rewarded - from $250 for catching a firearms violator to $1,000 for catching a firearms trafficker or a person who has committed a violent felony.
"People in the community can feel more secure," Street said.
So how effective are these programs?
"Not very," said David Kennedy, a Harvard University researcher and expert on gun violence.
At first blush, a reward program seems a like good idea, Kennedy said.
But in reality, the potential tipster - a family member, a friend, or a victim - is disinclined to call a tip line, Kennedy said. The reasons could range from loyalty to fear.
New York started a similar program in January 2001. By this April - when the reward was doubled from $500 to $1,000 - police had received 574 tips leading to 288 arrests and the confiscation of 133 firearms.
Kennedy called that a paltry figure for a city so large.
One tip-reward program failed to generate useful tips, at least in the early going.
In Pittsburgh, a campaign was launched in August 2001 offering $25 for each illegal gun confiscated and $100 for each arrest.
Eight months later, the program had distributed only one reward for $25, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The police department did point out that it had seen an increase in illegal-gun arrests through stepped-up enforcement.
Kelly Hobbs, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association, said such programs were a waste of law-enforcement resources.
"Similar programs have not had a proven impact on crime," Hobbs said.
However, Daniel Webster, codirector of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, said a reward program can be useful in reminding the public that the police are going after illegal guns.
"I think this is a reasonable thing to do, among other things," Webster said.
Bryan Miller, executive director of CeaseFirePA, based in Philadelphia, gave credit to Street for starting the program but said a more meaningful change would be for state lawmakers to enact stricter gun laws, such as a limit of one handgun a month for gun buyers.
"It's not a surprise to me that we are experiencing an increase in gun violence, because Pennsylvania does not have an adequate system of gun laws," Miller said. "It's too easy for bad people to get guns in this state."
The program offers tipsters a reward of up to $1,000. Some experts say its intent is good but doubt it will be effective.
By Sree Roy and Robert Moran
Inquirer Staff Writers
Amid a recent surge in murders in Philadelphia, Mayor Street launched a program yesterday to reward anonymous tipsters up to $1,000 for leading police to gun criminals.
Year after year, about 80 percent of the killings in the city are committed with handguns - giving Philadelphia the dubious distinction of having one of the nation's highest rates for gun use in homicides.
"We just can't get a handle on it," said Deputy Police Commissioner Robert Mitchell about the proliferation of firearms in the city.
Street first announced the illegal-gun initiative on May 1, the one-year anniversary of Operation Safe Streets, the city's crackdown on open-air drug dealing.
In June, Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz made the recent increase in murders a campaign issue, calling the then-22.4 percent rise an "epidemic."
Since then, the difference has shrunk to 16.6 percent, with 168 murders as of yesterday, compared with 144 through the same time last year.
Street said it would take an "extraordinary effort" to get illegal guns off the streets.
To help police toward that end, he said, a 24-hour hotline - 215-683-GUNS - has been activated.
Callers to the hotline will be given a confidential identification number. After providing all necessary information, the caller can check on the case a week later.
If an arrest is made, the tipster is rewarded - from $250 for catching a firearms violator to $1,000 for catching a firearms trafficker or a person who has committed a violent felony.
"People in the community can feel more secure," Street said.
So how effective are these programs?
"Not very," said David Kennedy, a Harvard University researcher and expert on gun violence.
At first blush, a reward program seems a like good idea, Kennedy said.
But in reality, the potential tipster - a family member, a friend, or a victim - is disinclined to call a tip line, Kennedy said. The reasons could range from loyalty to fear.
New York started a similar program in January 2001. By this April - when the reward was doubled from $500 to $1,000 - police had received 574 tips leading to 288 arrests and the confiscation of 133 firearms.
Kennedy called that a paltry figure for a city so large.
One tip-reward program failed to generate useful tips, at least in the early going.
In Pittsburgh, a campaign was launched in August 2001 offering $25 for each illegal gun confiscated and $100 for each arrest.
Eight months later, the program had distributed only one reward for $25, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The police department did point out that it had seen an increase in illegal-gun arrests through stepped-up enforcement.
Kelly Hobbs, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association, said such programs were a waste of law-enforcement resources.
"Similar programs have not had a proven impact on crime," Hobbs said.
However, Daniel Webster, codirector of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, said a reward program can be useful in reminding the public that the police are going after illegal guns.
"I think this is a reasonable thing to do, among other things," Webster said.
Bryan Miller, executive director of CeaseFirePA, based in Philadelphia, gave credit to Street for starting the program but said a more meaningful change would be for state lawmakers to enact stricter gun laws, such as a limit of one handgun a month for gun buyers.
"It's not a surprise to me that we are experiencing an increase in gun violence, because Pennsylvania does not have an adequate system of gun laws," Miller said. "It's too easy for bad people to get guns in this state."
:banghead:
