(Danville, Va.) – Danville’s new police chief says officers are redoubling their efforts to get illegal guns off the street.

At a press conference Friday afternoon, Chief Scott Booth told reporters police have seized on average one gun every other day from the streets of Danville so far this year.

One was found by a young child who was playing near a public playground.

Booth, who has been on the job for just over a month, said he has been struck by the large number of illegal guns that are changing hands on the streets of Danville. He said his goal is to get those firearms away from criminals.

Booth said the Danville Police Department is working with federal and state law enforcement partners to make that happen, but needs the eyes and ears of the public. The chief said his officers “can’t do it ourselves; we have to have community trust, community input, communication and connectivity in order for us to do our job.”

To date, about three dozen illegal firearms have been seized in 2018.