Action News rode along with Highway Patrol officers Dan Martinez and Mary Ann Evans Thursday afternoon.
The afternoon began with the officers rushing to 3rd Street and Indiana Avenue for a report of a group of people wielding sticks and knives fighting.
When police arrived people were scattering all over the place. They tried to stop one on a bike.
"And he tries to take off and they take him down and recovered [a] bag...It had a whole bunch of bottles of marijuana in it," Officer Martinez said.
We rushed to 3rd Street and Bristol Street where two suspects tried to flee after Highway Patrol officer Brian Hilbert spotted them trying to steal a car.
"The officers who gave chase, they were able to apprehend the suspect without further incident and everybody's safe and sound, nobody's injured, we go home," Sgt. Maurice Rollins of the Highway Patrol said.
Going home without getting shot or shot at is the end of a good day for these Highway Patrol officers who travel to dangerous hot spots across the city as they are needed to combat crime.
Saturday night's murder of 27-year-old Jesus Santos-Ramos, known as Pito, is one of four murders this month, symbolizing the spike in violence that has prompted police brass to put more cops on the streets overnight when most of the violence takes place.
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey announced Thursday the new strategy that will change the shift times of many of the rank-and-file so that more officers will be on the street overnight, especially in neighborhoods where violent crime is surging.
RELATED: Police shifts shifted to combat summertime crime "There's just a lot of people with guns and a lot of people with drugs and when you mix them, it's a volatile situation and that's what we run into. There are a lot of people riding out there with guns as the officers in the 24th found out last week," Captain Michael Cochrane said.
Back on the streets, Highway Patrol officers spotted a man driving a car that had been reported stolen. He was arrested without incident.
"That's all we ever get in this area, a lot of drugs, guns, stolen cars, robberies," Martinez said.
Ultimately, what it's all about for these men and women of the Philadelphia Police is making the streets safe for people like North Philadelphia resident Sonya Mbele, whose car was almost stolen earlier at 3rd and Bristol.
"I'm grateful to the officers for being there for me or for the citizens, not just me cause they don't know me, so just grateful for them," Sonya said.
Within an hour's time, Highway Patrol officers had made four arrests, one for a stolen car, two others trying to steal a car, and another for narcotics. Late Thursday night, the men and women in blue added four more arrests to the count as they put their lives on the front lines combating crime.
