About 100 West Philadelphia residents packed the basement of the Calvary Center tonight to talk to police and University City District (UCD) officials about how to curb crime in the neighborhoods west of 40th Street.

The regular monthly meeting, which usually attracts less than a dozen people, was standing-room-only tonight as residents questioned police about topics ranging from the effectiveness of plain-clothes officers to the funding of a campaign for more porch lights. Police and UCD officials called on residents to help keep neighborhoods safe by requesting more walking escorts and calling police when they see suspicious activity.

Neighborhood organization was a consistent theme of the meeting.

“We have to organize as a community,” said resident Karen Allen. “Otherwise we will be picked off one by one.”

The increased attendance at the monthly meeting with police was in response to the rape and robbery on Tuesday night near 48th Street and Springfield Avenue.

Many residents who attended the meeting wanted to talk about specific issues. Several were concerned about the area near 48th and Baltimore. A woman who lives at 800 S. St. Bernard St., a small side street near 49th and Baltimore, said she has seen an increase in criminal activity on her street, including three robberies earlier this week.

“It feels like a battle zone with kids running up and down our street with guns,” she said.

Lt. Brian McBride, who heads the Philadelphia Police Department’s University City unit, said that officers have been active in the neighborhood and made arrests in those cases.

“It’s been a battle over there,” he said. You’re right. We’re working very hard on it.”

McBride said that the department has employed a strategy that includes several plain clothes police officers in areas beyond 40th Street.

But several residents were concerned that there were no longer enough uniformed UCD bike patrols further out in the neighborhood.

“The change I see is that at night they are concentrated around 40th and Walnut,” said one person at the meeting. “It’s like if you sneeze in that neighborhood then, boom, you’re done.”

Matt Bergheiser, UCD’s executive director, said more patrols have been stationed near 40th and Walnut to help combat the rash of flash mobs last month. That area, intelligence showed, was a possible target, he said.

Bergheiser said that UCD has performed target policing before, including a crackdown near the 46th and Market El stop, which had seen an increase in crime earlier this year. Police targeted a wall near a residential area bordering the El stop and deployed more plain clothes officers. They have taken a similar approach to the increased crime below Baltimore Avenue.

“I know it’s not as visible,” Bergheiser said. “But it’s out there.”

That deployment is part of an ongoing strategy to address crime, he said “We look at every single crime every single week to try to stay ahead of the trends,” said Bergheiser.

One resident was concerned that the area south of Baltimore Avenue near 48th Street was targeted because it was on the border of police districts – that there was an “escape route” where police from different districts would not overlap. McBride said police nearby, regardless of the district, would respond to an emergency.

“In an emergency, all bets are off,” he said. “Any police can go anywhere.”

McBride advised residents at the meeting to report suspicious activity. Some people at the meeting said that in a diverse neighborhood suspicious activity was often hard to pinpoint. One person raised a specific example: He was on a trolley when he overheard a group of teens talking about the best way to rob someone at night. McBride advised him to call it in.

“On the off chance that it was a threat,” he said, “I would step off the trolley and call 911 and someone would be dispatched.”

What became clear in the meeting, though, is that people in the neighborhoods have been reluctant to report “suspicious activity.” There are likely several reasons for that. Many people are new to the neighborhood and so are still getting accustomed to what is “normal.” Also, “suspicious” is to judge.

But McBride, Bergheiser and the other speakers offered some concrete advice:

• Keep your porch light on if you have one. It costs about $3 a year to keep a 100-watt bulb on from dusk until dawn.

• Trim big bushes back. It sounds trivial, but police have noticed that in West Philly would-be robbers hide in overgrown bushes.

• Walk confidently. Beware that ear buds and headphones make you vulnerable, as does carrying lots of stuff.

• Look for light. As we know, light is our friend.

• Don’t be afraid to call the UCD ambassadors. Yes, those folks on bikes with the yellow shirts will walk you places at night. One of the folks at the meeting said that there are 12,000 calls for them near the Penn campus and “not so many” past 40th Street. They patrol out to 50th Street and usually arrive within 5 minutes. They will introduce themselves and be friendly. Call them. The number is 215-387-3942.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with the rape and robbery near 48th and Springfield on Tuesday night. The man faces 19 charges, including rape, robbery, and kidnapping. Police are not releasing his name because he’s a suspect in other crimes in the city.

Police Captain John Darby said that several agencies were involved in the arrest, including the FBI.

Police say that two teenagers robbed a 32-year-old woman, a teacher, and 40-year-old man at gunpoint at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. One suspect, who police say was 17-19 years of age, then sexually assaulted the woman while holding the gun to her head. The other suspect was a male approximately 14 years of age. Darby said during a press conference this morning that the younger suspect ran away before the sexual assault. The male victim confirmed that report.

Darby said that the search for the younger suspect continues.

Police are searching for two teenage suspects they say were involved in a rape and robbery at about 10 p.m. last night near 48th Street and Springfield Avenue.

The police Special Victims Unit said a 32-year-old woman and 40-year-old man were walking along 48th Street when they were approached by two young males one of whom flashed a black handgun. The two young men led the man and woman to the back of a nearby home on the 900 block of S. 48th Street and robbed them. One suspect, who police say is between 17 and 19 years old, then sexually assaulted the woman.

The first suspect is described as a black male age 17-19, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and wearing a black t-shirt. The second suspect was a black male age 13-14, about 5 feet 4 inches tall and wearing a plaid shirt. Anyone with information can contact the Philadelphia Police Department’s Special Victim’s Unit at 215-685-3251.

We came across this flyer last night. A handmade bike was stolen from 43rd and Locust. $100 reward is offered for its return. How do you ride this thing?

Six people were shot during halftime of a basketball league playoff game last night at the courts near the Kingesessing Recreation Center near 49th and Kingsessing at about 8:50 p.m.last night.

Police said some 500 people crowded around the courts during the game, including two police officers.

“All of a sudden they just heard gun shots,” said police spokesperson Christine O’Brien.

The game was part of the city-run Eggy Taylor and Pick Brown League.

Four men ranging in ages from 18-23 and a 20-year-old woman were shot in the legs, police said. One 19-year-old man was shot in the stomach. None of the injuries were life threatening, police said. A recreation official told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the victims were innocent bystanders.

The shooter was described as a black male, 22-24 years old with a dark complexion. He is about 5 feet, nine inches tall and was wearing a red and black baseball cap, a white t-shirt and black jeans.

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The 22-year-old legally blind man who was involved in a scuffle with police Friday near 46th and Walnut has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, wrecklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Witnesses say that police used excessive force to subdue Darrell Holloway after he and two other men were stopped at about 9:30 p.m. A bystander was also charged in the melee, which sent Holloway and two police officers to the hospital.

Police stopped Holloway, who had no criminal record, and the other men for a “narcotics investigation” and Holloway soon began to “punch the officers in the face and body,” according to a police report. The Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that Holloway was “known” to police officers.

Witnesses say several officers struck Holloway with batons and flashlights. In a shaky cell phone video of the incident, bystanders can be heard shouting to police that Holloway was blind.

Holloway, who lives on the 5600 block of Pemberton Street, lost his vision four years ago after he was shot in the face, his family told the Daily News.

Holloway was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and later released. Two officers were hospitalized as well.

A 20-year-old woman, Nicole Boyd, was charged with aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime after she allegedly threw a flower pot at police from a second floor balcony.

Holloway and Boyd were released after posting bail. Both are scheduled for preliminary hearings on Sept. 6. Police would not say if an Internal Affairs investigation has been initiated.