Chester Mayor John Linder has seen enough.
After two more shootings in the city Thursday night - just a couple of weeks after the fatal shooting of a Rite Aid store manager rocked the city - Linder and Police Commissioner Joe Bail are planning changes.
One person was killed and another wounded in two separate shootings last night.
"This has been a problem area for us," the mayor admitted last night at the scene of one of the shootings at 21st and Madison streets.
Linder today is expected to hold a press conference to announce new policing methods in trouble spots around the city - targeting loitering that often leads to trouble. The mayor, along with Bail, also are expected to take steps to get more police on the street, making a stronger presence in areas where street shootings have become all too common.
"We are talking about some other strategies, specifically in this area," Linder said. "People will see a difference this weekend, starting tonight."
In the past, Linder has been reluctant to take the kind of extreme steps put in place by his predecessor, Mayor Wendell Butler.
During a particularly bad run of street shootings several years ago, Butler ordered a mandatory curfew, essentially keeping all citizens off the streets, and banned most public gatherings in the city.
Last night's murder brought the county homicide toll to 24. Of those 17 have occurred in Chester.
Comments