No More Phillies, So Now What?
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The Philadelphia Inquirer has a disturbingly effective visual aide that brings together the homicide data from last year - data we are quickly on our way to surpassing in 2007.
Philadelphia was once referred to as the ‘City of Brotherly Love’ but lately, it has been making a name for itself as one of the most violent and murderous cities in the nation. A recent Inquirer article said that the murder rate is indicative of Philadelphia’s “substantial impoverished underclasses.” There have been over 240 murders so far this year, and the rising rate shows no signs of slowing down.
The most important question: Why?
Well, there are a lot of numbers and a lot of analysis floating around the internet and print and television news outlets. Primary sources, however, are the most revealing. Phillyist examined the Uniform Crime Reports, compiled and released by the state for use by the FBI and other law enforcement organizations. The raw numbers show that between 1999 and 2006, only instances of rape and murder increased at all. While the data showed a 3% increase in rape cases, murder showed a stunning 28% increase over the same period. The increase in murder is greater than the combined decrease of all other major crimes.
A fascinating article on the NBC 10 web site points out the growing problem of convincing witnesses to come forward with vital information about the shooters and circumstances of many of these shootings. In one case mentioned in their article, detectives still have no witnesses on record for a recent fatal shooting in a bar that was apparently full of “dozens of patrons”.
Eventually, several witnesses contacted police, and the information they provided led to an arrest in that particular case. But maybe this reluctance to speak up belies the dangerous brand of street justice that operates just beneath the surface of a city at war: If you snitch, we’ll find you and make you pay. This is often how things are played out when local law enforcement simply cannot spare a cop to patrol someone’s block after they cooperate with police. Resources are already stretched thin in the wake of budget revisions made in recent years to usher in the Department Homeland Security.
Take the murder of petty officer John Marshall, a veteran of two tours in the Middle East who was here to visit relatives. He was shot as the result of an argument between his younger brother and his ex-girlfriend, who had brought a posse with her to Marshall’s mother’s home. He was shot in front of his wife, mother, and four children, and died ten minutes later.
Or fifteen-year-old Raheem Grant, who was fatally shot in the back of the head at 2:30AM Saturday morning in the city’s Overbrook section. It was supposedly a murder of ‘retaliation.’ The fact is that there is nothing safe or legitimate for a teenage boy to be doing when roaming his neighborhood at so late an hour.
The Philly.com story about the boy’s death points out that while no one immediately knew the circumstances which led up to the shooting, no one was eager to talk to reporters about it, either. Aside from the standard ‘bad neighborhood’ comments, residents of the area were clearly keeping quiet out of fear of similar reprisals.
Just Wednesday, police found the decomposing body of a 60 year old North Philadelphia man who had been stabbed “dozens of times” and left in his own basement.
Regardless of the level of cooperation, though, the fact that Philadelphia has more murders than New York, a city with six times as many residents, means that the issue is as much one of legislation as it is of enforcement.
The big issue often raised in news reports about our murder rate is that New York City has the ability to write its own gun control legislation, while ours must come from state lawmakers. The argument goes back and forth between the idea that rural enthusiasm for hunting keeps lawmakers from giving Philadelphia more power over gun control on its own turf and the opposing claim that responsible gun possession is somehow a deterrent or defense in the face of hostile fire.
A murder, though, is still a murder.
Read more after the jump...
Numbers are daunting, but they can be dehumanizing, too. Sadly, there is no shortage in this city of family and friends left to grieve in the wake of more than a murder a day so far in 2007. While almost 220 days have passed this year, over 240 homicides have been recorded. Those are numbers that translate too easily from ink and pixels into a tragic reality for residents all over the city.
Six murders over the weekend. Shootings, stabbings, beatings, and even a woman whose hands were bound before her corpse was found burning somewhere in the Strawberry Mansion section of the city. An autopsy is still pending at the time of this posting.
It seems that there are a few consistent aspects common to these and most homicides: They all involve drugs, debts, or tempers.
First of all, the gun control issue is a no-brainer. Make the hunting enthusiasts from western PA come spend a night in one of our more gun-ridden neighborhoods and see if their own firearms deter the criminals that troll those streets from shooting them like so much seasonal pheasant.
Next, the drugs. This one is not so easy. The best way, traditionally, to fight drugs, is simply to put more cops on the streets. This is a budget issue and if increasing the number of beat cops ultimately demands a tax hike, it is one we’ll have to deal with or die without.
The only other option is a well-trained and vast neighborhood watch system – one that unifies existing groups and fills the gaps between them, using the same communications channels and working in direct radio contact with police dispatchers. No fancy uniforms or flashy hats for these folks, though: they don’t have the firepower to defend themselves if things get nasty.
The truth is that the people who wouldn’t volunteer for such a people-powered force are also the ones who wouldn’t want to pay higher taxes to bring in more cops. That’s a shame.
Also, I don’t care how Orwellian or Communist or fascist you think it is, folks: We need a curfew. Many of these killings happen when drunken people or wayward kids with guns are allowed to walk around all night long. Buzzes wear off, people get tired, and tempers flare. That is when guns start going off. Like I said earlier, there is nothing legitimate going on in the streets after 2AM unless it involves road crews. Is this an overreaction? Maybe after the first fifty or 100 or 150 murders of the year. Not, however, when we’re set to surpass 250 by the end of next week.
Finally, there is a very important aspect of this epidemic that is not being addressed at all in the mainstream local media. Philly.com posted an article quoting a local funeral director. The woman pointed out that the majority of these homicides are being committed by African Americans against African Americans, and suggested that if the majority of victims were white, the response would be very different.
There is absolutely no evidence to support the assertion that she is wrong, and the stories speak for themselves. I’ve got no suggestions – it’s a problem that goes beyond a post on a local blog. It does seem that predominantly affluent white communities do a good job of ignoring issues like these until they creep into Old City, Merion Township or Manyunk – which is rare. Until there is some alliance of communities that spans the entire city, including major metropolitan areas, the problem will remain a depressing two-minute story on the evening news.
The worst part is that I had such trouble wrapping this article up. I started it a week ago and every time I tried to wrap it up, there was another murder – sometimes a few in a day. It is a scary situation when a city is consuming itself with violent crime from the inside out. It becomes even more disturbing, though, when the deadly problem hits so close to home.
We encourage readers to post their opinions and ideas for dealing with the local culture of violence.
Image from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
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I think the fear of retaliation is OBVIOUSLY the main force behind the 'Stop Snitching' campaign that continues to ravage the city. I don't understand how "reluctance to speak up belies the dangerous brand of street justice." Do you mean the reluctance to speak up contradicts a vigalante force that would go after criminals? (If so, I never heard about that group.) The rest of the section suggests you think that the reluctance to speak up directly affirms a general fear of retaliation from criminals. Belies??
(An aside: if you want to see something truly despicable, check this out.)
Otherwise, nice job summing up the well into which Philadelphia has fallen. I totally disagree, however, about a curfew system. If killers aren't following laws that outlaw murder, why would they abide by a curfew? I know, I know... Police would have an easier time because they could just pick up everyone they saw walking around after curfew. Nevertheless, I think that (1) the criminals would find a way to do their killing before curfew, (2) the criminals would find a way to effectively break curfew, and (3) the curfew would have far too great an impact on non-criminals. I know we are in a crisis state, but I can walk around whenever I want to, and am not about to give up that right.
Gun control, though, is totally it. Pennsy-tucky legislators are making it impossible for the city to deal with this.
Finally, I'd be curious to see what has happened when people have "snitched." If they are all getting killed... I had actually written a few more sentences, but the whole thing makes my head spin. It's unbelievably depressing, and I have no idea how things can turn around.
Just wanted to say thank you so much for the insight. I like a reader who doesn't hesitate to criticize but keeps it constructive.
On that note, I have to agree that you did, indeed, catch me misusing the term 'belies' and you may consider me corrected. Thanks.
Hopefully you'll be the first of many to offer their suggestions and critiques. I know it's an important issue and we're in a desperate sort of stalemate on how to handle it.
Who's A Rat is definitely despicable, especially considering the fact that they're making money off of it.
Once again, thanks for the input - dialogue like this is the whole reason we do this. Keep up the commenting!
Regarding the proposed solutions:
1) Gun Control: Indeed, a no-brainer. That said, I don't think that gun control is the only reason homicides are lower in NYC. A lot of it has to do with ...
2) More cops on the street, and more accountability for those cops. I think everyone knows about NYPDs anti-crime tactics, both good and bad, at this point. Many of them worked wonders with a city previously thought to border on the ungovernable. Of particular use? When there's a spike in crime in a neighborhood, the NYPD floods it with cops. Look at the area bounded by Arch, Chestnut, 50th and 55th. 8 murders in an eight month period. That's ridiculous. That area should be utterly saturated with cops. The Police Commissioner should live there. I wonder about the numbers on police spending per capita (and per acre) in NYC vs Philly.
3) Curfews: Already have them for kids (http://www.ppdonline.org/ops/ops_programs.php). If it was thoroughly enforced, you'd knock all of three homicides off the list (maybe). And you're not going to get anywhere trying to push it on adults. Bad idea.
4) "It does seem that predominantly affluent white communities do a good job of ignoring issues like these until they creep into Old City, Merion Township or Manyunk [sic] – which is rare." Well, Merion township isn't a part of the City of Philadelphia, so I fail to see how taking a swipe at the 'burbs helps anything out. As for the folks of Manayunk and Old City "ignoring" this issue, I suspect if you actually talked to the denizens of these neighborhood, the murder rate would be something that just might come up. And I bet they might say that some of the money for the new citywide wireless program should go into putting more police on the streets.
I don't see that playing the race card is going to shame the Mayor's office, City Council and the Philadelphia Police Department into any further action. It's really a matter of class more than race, anyway. Rich neighborhoods get cops. Poor neighborhoods don't. Not to mention that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Do you think that if there's a murder in Manayunk, the cops would have any trouble getting witnesses to talk?
There have been over 240 murders so far this year, and the rising rate shows no signs of slowing down."
While the murder rate for 2007 is higher than that for 2006 for the year thus far, the year-internal statistics are somewhat different,and they show that the murder rate *is* showing signs of slowing down. At the blog malcolmxpark.org , I've been looking at the data for 2007. For 2007 thus far, we've had a 4.9% increase over 2006, but if you look at 2007 from April through July and compare it to 2006 for the same period, we've actually seen a *decrease* in the murder rate of %5.9! That doesn't excuse the fact that the murder rate is so high in the city (though it's not at a historical high), but it does suggest that the media are not looking too closely at the trend *within* the year, and there may in fact be something going on behind the scenes to turn the situation around.
Great article and yes all opinions and perspectives should be welcomed. Thanks for having an open mind.
While I feel the rising murder rate is horrible, what can we do about it?
Are we willing to sacrifice personal liberty for security?
Some have looked to NY for answers. While they have reduced the murder rate, problems with police force, video suveilance, and 2nd amendment issues present themselves.
The fix is simple, give the police the power they need, outlaw guns, and put video cameras on every corner. However, this would never happen, both the left and the right would object.
Just look at the hooplah over Nutter's stop and frisk initiative. This barely nudges civil liberties, and could work (after all, as Joe says "there is nothing safe or legitimate for a teenage boy to be doing when roaming his neighborhood at so late an hour") but hasn't ridden a wave of support like it should.
In the end I don't think people really care that much about each other. No one realizes the finality of death or thinks about anything outside of their personal sphere. With the exception of a massive cultural change, there isn't much anyone will be able to do about the crime rate. Lawsuits will tie up laws in court for years, guns will still be readily available to thugs, police will be powerless to truly make a difference, and witnesses won't trust anyone.
Hey,
You just need to pray and pray some more!
Oh, yeah election is coming pray for a
new mayor who cares....God Bless You all
in Philly!
NY Lovesssssssssssssss Philly! It will get
better.....Peace!
Philly does not need a curfew or gun control. They need teach young kids that drugs and violence is wrong. The ending of crime will come when all the younger generations learn that what is happening is wrong.
Education is the only way to save the city. Also, we have to legalize drugs to allow so that kids will rather get a real job making legit money. Otherwise when kids grow up in a community with illegal drugs than they can make so much more money selling drugs and its not hard. If the drugs were legal than it would not be a profitable business and no one would be interested in doing them besides the people that already have done them that are addicted. If you educate kids that these drugs are not good and they kill you. Then chances are they will not do them. But if you continue to have a very powerful illegal drug market it will result in what we have today. The reason being is because of the amount of money in the business. It sad to say it but this country revolves around money and if young kids can get easy money quick they will take it.
Some major gun arrests might help us out a bit. According to a recent Daily News article 85% of homicides involve firearms.
So over 50 people have been arrested and over 100 guns have been seized. It's a start, and a good one.
But I hope things like this start to become as consistent as the deaths that plague the city.
It's a good thing the police has started taking action. These numbers concerning the murder rate are way too high. I wonder what is the main reason of these crimes? Is it passion? Greed? Hate?
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Johanna Bartley, Narconon Vista Bay volunteers. We are looking for others as well.