Police are redoubling their efforts in the northwest division of the city, which has the dubious honour of being the area with the highest rates of gun crime.

The area of 23 Division, which includes Mount Olive and Jamestown, has seen nearly 30 shootings, with more than a dozen people shot in the neighbourhood this year alone.

This has prompted police to flood the area near Finch Avenue and Kipling Avenue with extra officers for the summer months, many of them mounted on bicycles.

Const. Sandy Hazell, who has worked in the neighbourhood for a decade, said that having police presence is important -- and not just when something bad happens.

"They all expect that something awful has happened because we're all here, right? So, it's nice that we can get to know them and it's nice for them to see that we don't just come when it's bad,” she said.

The problems are so great that, at many times, playground equipment in the nieghbourhood stands empty, even though the area is home to families.

“There’s tons of children in this area, and there’s not many out right now,” observes Police Const. Adam Campoli on a sunny summer morning.

Many parents are afraid to let their kids play outside.

“I have five kids and, my kids, they play outside and it’s not safe,” said area resident Awees Mohamus. “You know what I mean? Because I don’t want my kids to get hurt.”

Many of the problems in the nieghbourhood can be attributed to a turf war between rivals from Mount Olive and neighbouring Jamestown.

Both neighbourhoods contain large pockets of social housing, which pack many people into a dense area.

In the past, warring groups have posted rap videos to YouTube, threatening and taunting one another.

They continue to taunt each other “until someone starts shooting,” said Sgt. Kevin Van Schubert.

Six years ago, Toronto police made more than 100 arrests in a giant sweep they called Triple X, clearing many members of Jamestown Crew, which was once considered one of the most violent street gangs in the city.

They also seized quantities of drugs and guns during the operation.

Since then, some of the rivalry continues and it’s that rivalry that police say they want to stamp out with their increased presence.

“Too many people want to paint Jamestown as a complete dead-end place,” said Van Schubert. “There's a lot of good people in here -- and then there's a few that probably don't want to see us in here."

With files from CTV Toronto’s Tamara Cherry