Amid crime spike in US, Biden meets police chiefs

Shooting sprees in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia kill dozens during the weekend as US gun violence epidemic rages.

United States President Joe Biden met with US city police chiefs, elected officials and a community intervention expert at the White House on Monday as his administration struggles to address a crime surge driven by rising gun violence in the US. “We recognise that we have to come together for the first responsibility of democracy: to keep each other safe,” Biden said before the meeting. “And that’s what the American people are looking for when it comes to reducing violent crime and gun violence”. Biden’s latest White House discussions come amid an epidemic of gun violence in some of the nation’s largest cities. During the weekend of July 10-11 in Chicago, 40 people were shot, 11 fatally.  Three people died and 11 were injured by gun violence in Philadelphia. And in New York City, three teenagers were killed in separate incidents, according to local reports.