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HANNIBAL, MO -- Hannibal's police chief says it's time to crack down on crime on city streets.

Chief Lyndell Davis has announced plans to start a "Street Crimes Unit" starting this Friday.

That means two officers will be assigned to tackle troubled areas in the city.

Davis says the unit will not only focus on getting criminals off the streets. He also wants those officers to build alliances with residents in those neighborhoods.

Does this move suggest Hannibal street crime is getting worse?

"Not at all,'' says Chief Davis. "This is more of an awareness that we have a problem like every community of our size or larger. Just to simply say that Hannibal is going down the tubes is a falsehood. What it is saying is we're recognizing that we have the same problems as many communities and we're trying to do something about it."

Davis says the department deals with a wide-range of crimes, not all of them are drug-related.

He says 10 to 15 years ago, many used fist fights during disagreements. But he says today, many are turning to guns instead, firing at everything from cars to people during or after an argument.