Violence getting out of hand on streets of Philadelphia

By Brandon Green
Collegian Reporter
March 21, 2007

As of Sunday, the city of Philadelphia has already experienced 83 homicides this year, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Eighty-three is a scary number, considering we had 406 last year registered with the Philadelphia Police Department. Once again, we are on pace to break last year’s mark. 2005 was an eight-year high and homicide was up 3.4 percent in the city, while homicide rose by 15 percent alone, according to Oct. 4, 2006 issue of Philadelphia Weekly. 2006 was only worse.

The sad part about all of the violence is that the murders are affecting many young, innocent victims who are simply caught in the line of fire. The murders are beginning to spill into our playgrounds, daycare centers, high schools – particularly the ones in West Philadelphia – and regular places like stores and restaurants.

Since I was a child, I have seen the violence get progressively worse visiting my grandmother in Northeast Philadelphia. The neighborhood where she owned her house is two houses away from one where a murder took place a few weeks ago. When I was a kid, violence in that neighborhood was unheard of and every single person on the block was friends; they took care of each other. It is so disturbing how bad things have changed since 10 years ago.

It feels as if we are not trying to correct the problem, either. We have seen various methods tried again and again, but have failed to turn our streets into a safer place. We have seen the adoption of “Operation Safer Streets,” coined by Philadelphia mayor John F. Street (D), where more cops are put on the streets and in high crime areas during peak hours. This method is not working because the murder rate has increased since the program was implimented.

Also, it seems like the mayoral candidates are telling us the same things that have been employed before. All you hear is the recurring theme of hiring up to 10,000 more officers statewide, including up to 1,000 in Philadelphia. Philadelphia Weekly also reported that the number of security guards in Philadelphia outnumber police officers by about 10,000. This is a staggering figure.

I am out of options for Philadelphia right now and have no answer for the recurring violence. I do not favor hiring more police officers, because that may not be the complete answer. What I do know, however, is the numbers get worse as the days progress, and somebody should seriously analyze the problem and give a better choice. People need to stop being scared to leave their homes for fear of becoming the next victim.

greenb2@lasalle.edu