On the streets in Philadelphia as police fight gun crime

To be embedded with the Philadelphia police for just two nights is a startling insight into America's gun problem.

The police radio crackles incessantly with sightings of armed criminals on the city's streets.

The night is full of high-octane pursuits, chases down alleys, frustration and almost always failure. The young men with the guns are one step ahead of the police.

They know the backstreets, the crack dens with escape routes and they operate inside the rundown housing estates - the so-called "projects" - which the police struggle to control.

Philadelphia's crime scenes are full of riddles.

At one point we race to a shooting and find a man unconscious and slumped on the pavement.

A 9mm ammo clip lies next to him. But he has no gunshot injuries.It emerges he wasn't the victim, he was the gunman. He had opened fire, missed his target and then collapsed from a massive drug overdose.

Drugs, crime and guns are inextricably linked.

Tonight on News at Ten we look at the police's brave but forlorn attempt to patrol Philadelphia's 22nd district.

Philadelphia is known as "The City of Brotherly Love."

Now locals have a new nickname for the city: "Kill-adelphia."