Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Troopers widen patrol of city highways

State police have taken over on the Schuylkill and will move to I-95, in a bid to free up more Phila. police to fight crime.

On the Schuylkill Expressway near Girard Avenue, State Trooper Tie Bradford (left) helps out stranded motorists Naomi and Jose Class from Reading. They were heading to the airport when their car broke down; Bradford took Naomi Class, her children and grandmother to the airport to meet her grandfather because a wrecker would not have arrived in time.
On the Schuylkill Expressway near Girard Avenue, State Trooper Tie Bradford (left) helps out stranded motorists Naomi and Jose Class from Reading. They were heading to the airport when their car broke down; Bradford took Naomi Class, her children and grandmother to the airport to meet her grandfather because a wrecker would not have arrived in time.Read moreAKIRA SUWA /Inquirer Staff Photographer

As part of a plan to free up 63 city officers to fight crime and patrol the long-neglected Roosevelt Boulevard, Pennsylvania state police have completed their takeover of traffic enforcement on the Schuylkill Expressway and will move next to I-95.

Troopers assumed responsibility for the final three-mile section of the expressway, from the Walt Whitman Bridge to South Street, at 6 a.m. Saturday. State police first started patrolling the expressway from City Avenue to Montgomery Drive in January, then progressed down to South Street in April.

The city now can devote four extra patrol cars around the clock to other areas, and have been targeting the Boulevard up to Adams Avenue before those areas will be assigned to other units, said Deputy Police Commissioner Patricia Giorgio Fox.

"We foresee a time when officers can be reassigned out of traffic. That time hasn't come yet," Fox said.

Next come I-95 and the Vine Street Expressway. In January, state police will begin to patrol I-95 from Broad Street to the Delaware County line. By March, troopers will be on I-95 from Broad to the Bucks County line and will cover all of the Vine Street Expressway.

In all, troopers will assume responsibility for 32 miles of highway, at an estimated savings to the city of at least $6 million. Philadelphia police are desperate for resources to combat a daunting murder rate.

"This is a big, big, help temporarily," said City Councilman Frank Rizzo, who pushed the issue with Gov. Rendell.

Roosevelt Boulevard has never had a regular traffic patrol, and two cars have been added there. Fox, who passes the traffic-division police Jeeps manning the Boulevard on her way home, said she had never seen that before.

Philadelphia police did not want to give up patrolling the interstates. The city was looking to be compensated for patrolling state roads. Rendell offered the use of the state police instead, and the city reluctantly accepted.

Officials caution that the city will not be able to devote all the 63 officers to crime-fighting because some still will have to be responsible for feeder roads, such as Woodhaven Road in Northeast Philadelphia or Route 291 near the airport.

Commanders from both the city and state police lauded the inter-agency cooperation.

"The Philadelphia Police Department has been unbelievably cooperative in making sure this gets implemented," said Capt. David Young, commander of State Police Troop K, which covers Delaware County, Montgomery County and now Philadelphia.

Rizzo said he saw one immediate benefit: State police are authorized to use radar guns. Drivers who think they can hit the gas pedal after they cross into Philadelphia are going to be cited, Rizzo said.

"I'm sure there are a lot of people who take chances like that. We're going to educate them," Young said, adding that he would ask that lines be painted on the road so that state police helicopters can measure speed.

Neither the state police nor the city could provide statistics to gauge whether troopers are more aggressive on patrol than city officers.

Lt. Frank McCorkle, patrol section commander at the Belmont barracks, said troopers have issued 1,500 citations this year - between six and seven a day - and arrested 37 people for drunken-driving and 19 on criminal charges. In a special detail on the expressway Wednesday, troopers wrote 50 citations and 37 warnings, Young said.