Mayor Nutter was in crime plagued Strawberry mansion late today declaring the escalated war on the gun-toting criminals in city neighborhoods.
"We've got a message to every punk, every criminal, every person carrying an illegal weapon in the city of Philadelphia – got a gun, go to jail," Nutter said.
In Philadelphia, in this still New Year, there have been 31 murders in the first 25 days, most, if not all, involved handguns as the weapon of choice.
City Hall says it is now posting serious reward money for leading police to illegal weapons and even bigger money for help in every murder case.
"To every criminal out there, I just put a $20,000 bounty on your head. We are coming for you; we will find you and for people who will give up that information, we will also offer $500 for information that leads to the recovery of an illegal weapon here in Philadelphia," Nutter said.
To help police solve crimes, there will a direct anonymous e-mail tip line and a system allowing citizens to send video to the cops in event they capture a crime on their cell phones. The police command will again be saturating the most violent sections of town.
"We have identified the areas of our city that have suffered from the most amount of gun related violence. Now, we're not just talking about shootings, we're also talking about robbery, point-of-gun, any criminal that involves a firearm," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.
Police say there are 120 police cadets in training and are ready to take the streets by the summer.
