The city of Brotherly Love received some terrible news on Mother’s Day weekend. 25 people were shot and 7 died. While this may seem like a blip on the radar screen to some, this is not the case at all. It is part of an ongoing trend that has been going on for some time now. The increase from the same time period last year is dramatic.
The 40 percent increase represents a jump in killings that is obviously untenable. Even Chicago has only experienced a 20 percent increase. Many of the shooting victims in Philadelphia were juveniles. The police are doing their best to stem the tide, calling for the local youth to put down their guns. CBS Philadelphia has more:
“A deadly Mother’s Day weekend left seven people dead and 25 people shot. Police say the responsibility to make change lies largely within the community.
“It’s up to the community, it’s up to these individuals that are committing these acts of violence. They have to take a step back and say, ‘Wow, is this really worth it? Are we going to continue to go in this direction,’” Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith said…
“This is more violence than I’ve ever seen so we’re very concerned. We need people to put down the guns, to know that if someone has a gun they gotta let us know so we could try to intervene before that gun gets used in a crime,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Frank Vanore said.”
It’s not in our nature to be pessimistic but we highly doubt that the gang members of Philadelphia are going to heed these warnings. Gang members don’t tend to stop shooting at one another just because the police asked them to as nicely as possible. Call us crazy on that one if you need to.
The community is not going to come together and stop the violence. They are going to need assistance from the municipal government. The police are also going to have to play a major role. These steps are not going to be as easy to take as they have been in years past, though.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and his Police Chief, the hilariously named Danielle Outlaw, have made sure of that. The force has gone through lots of changes, most of them being negative. The police were expected to receive a $19 million influx of cash but this budgetary increase was nixed in the wake of the great rebellion that took place last year.
Not only was the increase canceled but the force also lost $14 million in additional funding as a result of the discourse. The money is supposed to be redirected to other social services but that remains to be seen. Officers have decided to leave the force in record numbers and understandably so.
When it is open season on your profession, what other choice do you have? As for Chief Outlaw, these concerns were immaterial to her. Her biggest concern was opening the jail doors and letting out all of the dangerous criminals inside. The major liberal cities have been doing this for months now, in the name of “safety”. The safety of everyone else who abides by the law is not considered.
According to a January report from the City Controller’s Office, there is a great deal of concern about the “lack of leadership at the highest levels”. These concerns stem from how the riots were handled. They wanted Outlaw to resign but no such luck. The Mayor supported her decision not to resign.
She used to be the Police Chief in Portland, which should tell you everything that you need to know about this matter. In January of 2021, 114 police officers resigned. This may not seem like a high number to most readers but this is higher than the total number of officers who have resigned over the course of ONE YEAR in the past. City Hall should probably wake up and smell the coffee here, before the violence gets any worse.
