Under a new City of Philadelphia initiative called GunStat, police work with assistant district attorneys to identify repeat firearms offenders in the program's small target areas. They keep close watch on the offenders and stop them for even the most minor offense, such as spitting on the sidewalk, so they can pat them down. Temple criminologist Jerry Ratcliffe cautioned against expanding too quickly. "I'm much happier with the city having a strategy identifying areas they can sustain and a project they can help people work together on," Ratcliffe said.