YORK, Pa. -- Officers in York are asking the community to help stop the violence. Police said most of the violence is caused by just a small group of people in the community.
York City Police Chief Wes Kahley said it's important for people to speak up to help stop the crimes.
He said, "People who live in the city knows who these individuals are and at some point we need the community, I call them the 99 percent, that aren't engaged in violent activity in the city to say, 'Enough is enough we're done with allowing the 1 percent make us look bad.'"
And Kahley said officers are doing what they can to stop the violence.
He said, "The police officers are going to continue doing their job, they're going to be out there being proactive. They're going to be out there trying to arrest the individuals and our Community Services Division, our partnership with the feds, all that stuff is going to come into play to try and empower the 99 percent."
Last year many members of a gang called Southside were found guilty of racketeering and drug charges. In cases like that, other agencies became involved.
"The one thing the federal government brings into play is a much stronger sentencing guidelines. So the Southside investigation I talked about, those individuals have all been found guilty but they haven't been sentenced yet. You'll see that later this year. And you're going to talk about huge sentences when you see that one," Kahley said.
He said they're an example of what could happen to other gangs.
"You're going to perpetrate violent crime and victimize people in the city, we're going to lock you up. And that's the message we're trying to send most of all and stuff like this outside case and other federal indictments just proves that we have a strong partnership now, and we're going to use that to take most violent people off the street," he said.