Phil just blogged about a piece in today's Weekly about certain block in Philadelphia that, as the writer puts it, has come to look like Beirut (and not the Beirut of the late 90's but the one we're all used to from the mid 80s.)
What struck me about the article was the role that the cops were playing in this whole story. Granted, it's impossible for us as readers to know the whole story. Most of the article was from the point of view of the one family that had recently moved to the block. We'll never know who's telling the truth, who's entirely at fault and what parts of the story we're missing. That said, the reaction of the cops in this story could lead the reader to think that we need to re-think a lot of what we know about policing:
A lot of narrow side streets in West Kensington get roped off in the summer. This aggravates the cops, who think the neighbors use the ropes to keep patrol cars out.
...
At this point the details get sketchy.
Ramon calls his boy Spike. Spike carries a gun. Ramon tells Spike what’s going on, and asks Spike to come get his back. Ramon fears for his family. Lamar doesn’t fire the gun, but withdraws it from the window and backs away, satisfied with his taunt.
Shawn calls the cops. Shawn never calls the cops, and does so now only out of fear for the lives of her children. Within minutes there are two cruisers on the block.
For a moment things ebb. Shawn, Ramon, Hakeem and children leave the house.
They’ve decided to go to a relative’s apartmentuntil things die down.
The cops are talking about Golden Girls reruns with the neighbors across the street, whom they know from previous calls.
The family slinks toward Allegheny Avenue, where Spike waits with his gun, offering protection from the mob that has formed behind Lamar.
Lamar tails them, calling for Hakeem’s head.
The cops don’t follow. They assume it’s more of the same old Hurley Street bullshit. They let Shawn know this as she backs away and starts to walk.
A brawl breaks out on the corner of Hurley and Allegheny. Seven guys converge on Hakeem, swinging fists. Hakeem swings back, blindly throwing his arms. And just like that, it happens.
Gunshots.
Like I said, I'm not a cop. I don't know any cops and I by far don't know all of the things that are happening on Hurley Street north of Allegheny Ave. However, it does seem like, at the very least, a new strategy could be used to help ease the tension that is so clear in this neighborhood and neighborhoods like it.
That's where this piece from Governing.com's blog, "The 13th Floor," comes in. They talk to Michael Nutter about the crime problem in Philadelphia and learn a little more about his plan to deal with it:
He talked about community policing, and his desire to get Philadelphia's horrendous gang-murder rate down by giving cops more time out on the streets, getting to know the inner-city residents and defusing tensions. At the moment, Nutter seemed to feel, the inner-city neighborhoods were at once fearful of violence and distrustful of any hard-line police efforts to stop it, such as a heavy-duty stop-and-frisk policy.
This leads to a whole discussion about the return of community policing and how that strategy showed so much promise when it was last popular in the mid-1990s. Of course, back then the federal government was a much bigger fan of fighting crime in the big cities and provided additional resources (money) for hiring the cops to "walk the beat."
The question becomes how do you make someone care? A great majority of cops are committed, compassionate and multi-talented individuals who are able to blend the roles of referee, strict parent, mentor, helpful neighbor and law enforcer. But how can the next mayor and/or police commissioner make it so that ALL of them have those qualities and can therefore be counted on to make community policing work the way it's supposed to? Years of good, hard work by an honest cop who spends his time building relationships in the community he or she patrols can be destroyed by one bad incident with police officer who doesn't share that same attitude.
Despite the horror of incidents like the one recounted in the Hurley Street story, I'm hopeful that the next mayor and the thousands of police officers who will be working for him, can figure it out.
Comments (32)
Oh Dan, come on, you can't be that blind! Seriously!
For look at this matter straight on. All these killings are taking place in Philadelphia's inner city blue collar neighborhoods where blue collar employment once was very high. Then, starting from the late 1960s onward, all the mills and factories that drove them were shut down rather than modernized, this having been done by a bunch of yuppie know-it-alls who mistakenly were mispassed the reins, all the onetime manufacturing that once flourished here in Philadelphia -- creating all that blue-collar employment -- was sent the way of China, and these many blue collar Philadelphia residents were left stranded with surviving whatever way they could after all the many blue collar jobs they once filled in exchange for good pay were gone. And most naturally -- and UNDERSTANDABLY -- crime skyrocketed in these communities accordingly. It's insulting to anyone's intelligence to suggest any other possible outcome could've occurred! That's just the straight facts looking at this matter straight on.
And the "solution" to all this you say is more forcibly policing those communities to stop the inevitable crime that's happening there?! For yeah, sure, that could be done. But why not just go all the way then, Dan, and wall off these communities completely, and then just go ahead and gas them?
But listen. Assuming you're a little more intelligent than that, there IS a solution to this. A REAL one. And the REAL solution is to cut all the crap, and let's go after the rich white collar scumbags that caused this mess to come about, confiscate all their wrongfully gotten wealth, take it all away from their spoiled progeny as well, lock them all away in antiquated Philadelphia prisons like Holmeburg, take that wealth that was confiscated from them to build all new and modern manufacturing facilities here in Philadelphia, and hey, miracle of miracles, watch Philadelphia rise up to truly become the next great city once more as a result of that. THAT'S THE SOLUTION! And the morally right one I'd also like to add.
For please take very special note of this: Just in case you haven't been paying very close attention lately, America's massive shift to dependency on Chinese manufactured goods is backfiring tremendously, and the crisis that's rising on that front is not going to get any better so long as we keep trying to go further in that dependency on China direction. If we persist on that insane course it's going to be suicidal, probably for the entire world. For look at this reality straight on: With over 80% of manufactured goods now being sold in the U.S. being made in China, and that figure growing with each day, China is in the process of destroying itself for the sake of the U.S. consumer market, while at the same time America is destroying itself for the sake of a small band of rich white collar scum by treating its greatest assets such as Philadelphia's blue collar population as if "liabilities."
Which YOU, Dan, by the way, are a party to, when you say that stepping up the policing of Philadelphia's inner city blue collar communities where blue collar employment once was high looks to be a "good solution." For that's not a "good solution"! Rather, that's a total insult to anyone -- ANYONE -- with any sort of intelligence.
A NEW direction is being called for here, clearly. We cannot afford to concur with and kiss up to Philadelphia's blue collar criminals for much longer. We've done so for far too long as it is. And let me be the first to step up and say that. Meantime, how about you, Dan, and others reading this. Do you second that, or no? If your answer is "no" then you're blinder than I thought.
Posted by Steve W. | August 22, 2007 11:35 PM
Yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery. Despite the soiled belongings and time experiences of the Hurly Street possible change. I'm hopeful the next mayor and the millions of peace-makers working for him will organize every horizon :-)
Posted by Jasper Zeigler Jr | August 23, 2007 8:14 AM
Steve W.,
I don't object to most of your rhetoric, but how can the next mayor use public policy to encourage manufacturing (or any jobs) in areas of Philadelphia that currently high in crime? Controlling international trade is federal policy. What can we do locally? Thanks.
Posted by cschmitt | August 23, 2007 9:16 AM
My My ... The local branch of the NAACP has filed a brutality complaint against the Philadelphia Police Department , stemming from a violent confrontation May 23 - location - 38th & Wallace Street involving police a motorist and passenger of the vehicle.
J.Whyatt Mondesire , Chief of the Philadelphia NAACP has repeatly said , police need a harness to control their beatings of citizens and the way they touch community lives , minds and spirits.
Mmmmmm. I wonder Sylvester Johnson's reaching policy on this range outlook.
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