{"id":11081,"date":"2024-12-27T11:28:34","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T19:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=11081"},"modified":"2024-12-27T11:28:34","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T19:28:34","slug":"progress-and-problems-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=11081","title":{"rendered":"Progress and Problems in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2023, Cherelle Parker won the Democratic primary for mayor of Philadelphia, running as more in favor of law enforcement than the other candidates. As CBS reported<\/a> in May 2023, she promised to crack down on drug sales in the infested Kensington neighborhood, supported hiring more police officers, and opposed the absurd “defund the police” movement. The general election was a foregone conclusion in this heavily Democratic city.<\/p>\n

As Mayor Parker closes out her first year, how much progress has there been? Some, to her credit, but not enough. The Philadelphia Inquirer had this story<\/a> last Sunday.<\/p>\n

Since January, the Parker administration has put 75 new police officers on the street, quashed homeless encampments, and increased narcotics arrests as it tries to respond to Kensington as if an open-air drug market had opened in Rittenhouse Square.<\/p>\n

But the crackdown hasn\u2019t been as swift or forceful as many residents had hoped.<\/p>\n

An Inquirer analysis of police department data found that Kensington saw a steep reduction in gun violence, in keeping with a historic decline citywide. But the quality-of-life crimes and nuisance issues that plague the neighborhood have not improved, and have instead followed the familiar pattern of policing in Kensington: Old problems just move to new places.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is holding up progress? Limited resources, as always, are a factor. Police can only make so many arrests when the jails are full. But curiously the Inquirer doesn’t even mention the District Attorney. The Wall Street Journal addresses that aspect in this editorial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The day after she was sworn in, Ms. Parker issued an executive order to shut down the open drug markets in Kensington. Her office soon published a strategy to \u201cattack the decades of open-air narcotics trade, addiction, homelessness, violence, and criminal activity\u201d that plague the neighborhood. As part of an enforcement push that began in June, 75 officers assigned to Kensington have worked to shut down homeless encampments, make narcotics arrests and promote public order.<\/p>\n

The effort is yielding results on gun crime. During the pandemic, the northern half of Kensington was the second-worst neighborhood in the city for shootings and murders. This year it\u2019s on track for the fewest shootings in a decade, city statistics show.<\/p>\n

Ms. Parker\u2019s critics complain that the cleanup hasn\u2019t made enough of a dent in vagrancy, drug use and other offenses that degrade quality of life in Kensington. But the mayor and police can\u2019t address those without the DA\u2019s help. Mr. Krasner, a progressive prosecutor elected with funding from George Soros, favors a soft-on-crime approach.<\/p>\n

In a report last year, Mr. Krasner touted his record of \u201creducing wildly excessive incarceration\u201d and probation sentences for \u201cconvicted Philadelphians who are mostly Black and brown.\u201d As of last week, he\u2019d charged 4,645 drug offenses in 2024, down from more than 13,300 the year before he became the DA.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarry Krasner\u2019s lack of prosecutions for theft, drug-related offenses, and quality-of-life crimes has made Philadelphia less safe overall, with Kensington being the most tragic example in our city,\u201d says state Rep. Martina White, a Philadelphia Republican. \u201cA District Attorney\u2019s office unwilling to hold criminals accountable continues to undermine public safety and hinders community revitalization efforts in places like Kensington.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The new year is an election year for Philadelphia District Attorney. Will the people of that city join the list of those who have woken up from wokeness and dumped their soft-on-crime DAs? Stayed tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2023, Cherelle Parker won the Democratic primary for mayor of Philadelphia, running as more in favor of law enforcement than the other candidates. As CBS reported in May 2023, she promised to crack down on drug sales in the infested Kensington neighborhood, supported hiring more police officers, and opposed the absurd “defund the police” movement. The general election was a foregone conclusion in this heavily Democratic city. As Mayor Parker closes out her first year, how much progress has there been? Some, to her credit, but not enough. The Philadelphia Inquirer had this story last Sunday. Since January, the Parker administration has put 75 new police officers on the street, quashed homeless encampments, and increased narcotics arrests as it tries to respond to Kensington as if an open-air drug market had opened in Rittenhouse Square. But the crackdown hasn\u2019t been as swift or forceful as many residents had hoped. An Inquirer analysis of police department data found that Kensington saw a steep reduction in gun violence, in keeping with a historic decline citywide. But the quality-of-life crimes and nuisance issues that plague the neighborhood have not improved, and have instead followed the familiar pattern of policing in Kensington: Old problems just move to new places. What is holding up progress? Limited resources, as always, are a factor. Police can only make so many arrests when the jails are full. But curiously the Inquirer doesn’t even mention the District Attorney. The Wall Street Journal addresses that aspect in this editorial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policing","category-prosecutors"],"yoast_head":"\nProgress and Problems in Philadelphia - Crime & Consequences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=11081\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Progress and Problems in Philadelphia - Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2023, Cherelle Parker won the Democratic primary for mayor of Philadelphia, running as more in favor of law enforcement than the other candidates. 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