City government exists to improve the quality of life of Philadelphians. Safety and the sense of safety are core to a resident’s quality of life and their desire to live and work in the City. All of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods should be desirable and thriving places to live and work. To fulfill this mission, the Philadelphia Police Department has re-focused its geographically-based method of service delivery. Each Police District is now divided into 2-3 Police Service Areas, each of which will has a command structure dedicated to resolving crime and disorder issues in that particular neighborhood. To complement this policing strategy and improve government efficiency, the Managing Director’s Office (the chief operating office for the City of Philadelphia), has taken charge of coordinating the delivery of City services in areas plagued by chronic crime and disorder. This model, labeled Public Service Areas (PSA), does this by significantly altering the way the City delivers services to its residents, specifically in areas of chronic crime and disorder problems that require a coordinated multi-agency response.

The Public Service Areas initiative is a pilot program that the City has launched to bring a citizen-centric, coordinated approach to improving public safety in Philadelphia’s high-crime neighborhoods. The process begins with the City engaging residents in a conversation about how they believe they can make their neighborhood safer, and follows through by coordinating the delivery of the resources necessary to make those plans happen.