Philadelphia’s District Attorney, Larry Krasner, believes tourists should not fear coming to Philadelphia for the holidays.
On Monday night Mayor of Philadelphia, Jim Kenney, took to Rittenhouse Square for the annual lighting of Rittenhouse Square Christmas tree. After the wintertime festivities, several media sources were there to ask the Philadelphian authorities questions. At some point, the question of Philadelphia’s crime rate was brought forward.
District Attorney Larry Krasner responded to the question with,
“We don’t have a crisis of lawlessness, we don’t have a crisis of crime.”
“We don’t have a crisis of violence, and that is a category that includes gun violence, but it also includes some pretty horrible stuff — like rape committed without a weapon or like a stabbing.”
He also reassured the public that they shouldn’t fear travelling to Philadelphia.
“They should come into the City of Philadelphia,” D.A. Krasner said. “They should enjoy every single thing this city offers in terms of shopping, in terms of staying overnight, in terms of dining out, in terms of walking around with your kids, wearing your mittens. They should come and enjoy all of that. Obviously, they should always be careful.”
D.A. Krasner says the gun violence crimes are typically low. He also admitted that gun violence is up in the city but the overall violent crime trends are flat. He mentioned that officials have increased patrols. The Center City District’s Safety Matters initiative partners with Philadelphia police to patrol the area through late-night hours in order to keep crime down.
Earlier on Monday, D.A. Krasner uttered the same sentiments during the weekly Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office gun violence briefing.
“I think it’s important that we don’t let this become mushy and bleed into the notion that there’s some kind of a big spike in crime — there isn’t.”
“There is not a big spike in crime. That is not true. There is also not a big spike in violent crime. So neither one of these things is true. And it’s very important to recognize that .”
Philadelphia’s homicide total is 13% higher than 2020, but the overall crime rate is down to about 3%. The Philadelphia Police Department recently estimated they will have taken more than 6,000 crime guns off the streets by year’s end. The FBI estimated over 40 million guns were purchased last year alone. According to National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) records, 1.4 million of those guns were purchased in Pennsylvania. That does not include the ghost guns that are independently assembled.
In 2018, 1,208 people were shot in Philadelphia.
In 2019, 1,283 people were shot in Philadelphia.
In 2020, 1,928 people were shot in Philadelphia.
More than 2,000 people have been shot in the city of Philadelphia this year.
Philadelphia has seen more than 500 homicides this year, a record amount. That’s an average of about one homicide every 16 hours. The record amount surpassed 1990’s 500 homicides.
Zinhle Essamuah of NBC News Now reported on the surge of gun violence, which is predominantly affecting the Black community.
NBC News Now: Philadelphia Hits Record Homicides
83% of the 2,000+ people shot in Philadelphia are black. Something has to change.
Do you believe Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner? What do you think needs to be done to reduce the gun violence in the streets of Philadelphia?
Let us know in the comment section, and stay tuned for more news at classixphilly.com.
