'A danger to the community!' fumes cop as mayor speaks out about strict crackdown on rotting abandoned cars on streets | 2JS504Y | 2024-04-30 12:08:01
AN OFFICER has spoken out about the dangers of dumping cars around its district as police start a major crackdown.
Philidelphia's 39th Police District has a number of abandoned cars on its streets that have been sitting for months.
Now, the city has started to tow abandoned and rotting vehicles, local Fox affiliate WTXF-TV.
"Basically, something someone can get hurt on," Philadelphia Police Lieutenant Chris Lantz stressed.
"Somebody could get cut on glass, a car that's up on jackstands that could fall. Something that's a danger to the community."
There are over 300 abandoned vehicles in the 39th District, according to police.
Lots of them are destroyed, smashed and trashed.
By last week, there were over 10,000 complaints to the local 311 non-emergency line about abandoned cars around the district made this year, WTXF-TV reported.
This means more than 800 calls were made by residents about dumped cars each week in 2024.
The department's Neighborhood Services Unit did a week-long process this month to help with the major issue.
The unit has been pulling dumped vehicles off the streets as part of Philidelphia's Mayor's Action Plan.
The strategy is a part of her Clean and Green initiative.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> Local law enforcement hauled around 50 vehicles as of Wednesday of last week.
Philidelphia isn't the only place Americans have to worry about their community being surrounded by unwanted, abandoned cars.
Abandoned vehicles have been plaguing residents of Honolulu, Hawaii the 2010's.
Headlines even highlighted the issue in 2018 and 2019.
<!--googleoff: all--> <blockquote class="article__quote"> </blockquote> <!--googleon: all--> Thousands of abandoned vehicles were reported to police in 2015.
The highest number of dumped cars on the streets of Hawaii was reported in 2017 with 1,221 on the island.
This problem also came with vandalism issues which made the aesthetics of the island even worse in the eyes of residents.
Wheels and tires are removed, then the windows are usually smashed, and sometimes they're vandalized by being set on fire.
Some are even found vehicles flipped onto the roof to make removing the catalytic converters easier to remove, Geneva Jackson, who works closely with the Hawaiian Acres Road Corp said.
"We have a horrible problem with abandoned vehicles," she stressed.
More >> https://ift.tt/dHEurC3 Source: MAG NEWS
