The provincial government announced an additional $5 million in funding on Sunday to fight crime in Toronto's entertainment district.

The money is going to the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy to curb violence in the popular downtown clubbing spot.

TAVIS, which was started in 2005 to target and disrupt gun violence, will use the funds to set up a permanent rapid response team to deal with crime in the area.

Monte Kwinter, the province's community safety and correctional services minister, made the announcement at a press conference with Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair.

"We've seen a 40 per cent decrease in the number of shooting incidents in the city of Toronto since 2005 ... it's a very positive indication that our program is working," said Chief Blair.

"Unfortunately violence still does occur, and there remains much work to be done."

Chief Blair said that the money will help the police deal with intoxicated people who leave the area's several nightclubs and destroy property.

Toronto police said that the weekend crowd can go from docile to rowdy as the night wears on.

"It's normal young people that come and act out at the end of the night. It's a very unbelievable thing if you haven't seen it," said officer Dan Sheppard.

There's also a growing trend that police said they're concerned about -- party buses coming in from outside the city into the area.

Police said that people are drinking on them, drinking more in the bars, and trouble can start when they are waiting outside for bus to come and take them home at the end of the night.

There's also concern about officer safety while they're trying to police a rowdy crowd.

"It starts out being a fight and then someone gets a bottle in the head, someone gets stabbed, kicked and it continues on to our officers are getting assaulted when they are trying to break these fights up," Sheppard said.

Mayor David Miller said he was happy to see funding from the province for an on-the-scene squad.

"When there is a little bit of violence and people have been drinking, you want to get there right away so it doesn't escalate," Miller said.

Chief Blair said that the police are working hard to curb gun violence and get criminals off the streets and behind bars.

"We will continue to work hard...to dismantle the gangs that are responsible for so much terror and trauma in our neighbourhoods," he said.

"There are people out there that are totally reckless about the lives of their fellow citizens, who have no respect for the safety of their communities or for themselves," he said.

"In those cases, those people need to ho to jail, and we're absolutely committed to that."

The police chief also emphasized the importance of working to keep young people from choosing a life of crime.

"We also have to work in neighbourhoods to ensure that young people aren't drawn into the allure of easy money from drug dealing or the allure of violence and gangsterism," he said. "We have to provide them with other alternative."

TAVIS is an initiative that is city-wide and uses both police and outside resources.

The provincial government has assisted with it by providing the program's funding.

With a report from CTV's Austin Delaney