Homicides are down significantly so far this year in Philadelphia but the city’s top prosecutor says more still needs to be done to ensure it stays that way.
First the good news:
“Homicides in Philadelphia are down 29.52 percent this year. 148 compared to 210 on the same date in 2012,” tweeted District Attorney Seth Williams Monday morning.
The trend Williams mentions has held consistent throughout 2013 as fewer people have been killed in the city. Currently the homicides to date are by far at the lowest level in the past seven years since the Philadelphia Police Department began posting year-to-date homicide numbers online.
But, Williams isn’t satisfied with fewer homicides alone.
“We are making progress, but the political commitment must be made to continue the successful police & prosecutorial innovations,” he tweeted a short time later.
Some of the policies already in place that could be helping keep homicide rates down include the “scoop and run” policy in which police won’t wait for medics and instead will rush a shooting or stabbing victim to the hospital in police vehicles, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey’s targeting of certain neighborhoods, and/or Williams’ prosecution of homicides including the recent long sentences for many of the people involved in the Piazza at Schmidt’s double murder.
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Whatever the reason, almost all violent crime has dipped this year in Philadelphia. The most recent police stats, which cover up to July 28, list assualts down between 9 to 10 percent with robberies also down as well as burglaries and most thefts year to date.
Despite the good news of fewer homicides in the city, bloodshed does continue including a homicide overnight in Southwest Philly where a 29-year-old man was shot at an elementary school yard and a handful of other shootings overnight.
