Crime In Philadelphia Isn’t Going Anywhere In Kamala Harris’ America

A party in North Philadelphia descended into chaos earlier this month when a juvenile boy fired off 50 rounds, injuring seven people and leaving one 16-year-old girl in critical condition. At one point in time, stories like this were unthinkable. Then, they were rare. But now, incidents like this are routine in Philadelphia. 

Rather than facing this human suffering head-on, Philadelphia progressives are desperate to spin a different narrative about crime in their city. With an election just around the corner, headline after headline after headline is touting that crime is down. 

District Attorney Larry Krasner earlier this year predicted “the largest reduction in violent crime in recorded history in the United States.” And Vice President Kamala Harris has been adamant that crime rates have declined during her administration. For its part, the Philadelphia police department is claiming a 40% year-to-date decrease in homicides in 2024 and a 42% reduction in shootings.

As the City’s website readily admits, however, these crime data are “preliminary,” which means they will likely be revised upward as the year continues. And they may even be even edited retroactively, as the FBI recently did for national crime statistics to cover up how unsafe America’s streets have become. 

Regardless, is the narrative true that Philadelphia has begun to solve its crime problem?

Unfortunately, it’s not. While the short-term decrease in crime during an election year might seem encouraging, the reality is that it isn’t indicative of real change. Violence in Philadelphia is still at historic highs.

To understand why, some perspective is in store. 

From 2013 to 2017, Philadelphia averaged 271 homicides per year. But then something happened. From 2018 through 2023, there was an average of 457 per year. Black people represented 83 percent of those victims. The same drastic jump in crime applied to shooting incidents, which increased from a five-year average of 1,047 per year to 1,588 per year. And aggravated assault while armed with a handgun, went from a five-year average of 2,209 per year to 3,116 per year. And retail thefts, which went from a five-year average of 7,412 per year to 9,084 per year. And auto theft skyrocketed from a five-year average of 5,691 to 8,665 per year.

So, what happened in 2018? 

Larry Krasner happened. He was elected as the 26th District Attorney of Philadelphia, thanks in part to $1.7 million in funding from progressive billionaire George Soros. At the time, Vice President Kamala Harris also vocally supported Krasner, calling his victory “key to criminal justice reforms like rolling back mass incarceration and ending cash bail.”

Unfortunately for the citizens of Philadelphia, Harris was right. Krasner’s policies would reflect the pro-crime agenda of his radical benefactor and lead to a massive increase in crime which has completely transformed the city. 

On his first day in office, Krasner fired 31 experienced violent crimes prosecutors, who he viewed as “ticks.” Then, he pursued new radical policies such as making retail theft of less than $500 worth of goods a petty crime, instructing all his assistant district attorneys to stop seeking bail on low-level charges, and lowering charges for first- and second-degree murderers. 

These policies earned Krasner the affectionate title “Uncle Larry” from Philadelphia’s criminals. And unless Uncle Larry is removed from office, Philadelphia’s improved 2024 crime numbers will prove to be what they are: an election year illusion and an embarrassment when put in their proper historical perspective.

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It doesn’t have to be this way. The people of Philadelphia should be able to live in a safe city, and not just during presidential election cycles when radical Democrats like Kamala Harris are trying win their vote. 

Thankfully, the solutions are simple, and conservatives are ready to deliver them. So are some moderate Democrats who already work in the city. Mayor Cherelle Parker, who ran directly opposed to Kamala Harris’ progressive orthodoxy on crime and called for the city to hire hundreds more police officers, is a good example. So is Police Chief Kevin Bethel, whom Parker appointed in January. 

Since becoming the city’s top cop, Bethel and his officers have implemented a curfew in high-crime areas, cracked down on people driving illegal ATVs and dirt bikes, and removed long-standing encampments. Conservatives and public safety advocates have been advancing all of these are commonsense policies for years.

Bethel attributes some of his success to collaborating with “federal partners” such as “ATF and DEA and FBI and Homeland Security.” But all Bethel’s good police work won’t count for anything if Krasner continues to let criminals off the hook. And the collaboration he counts on could end abruptly if Vice President Harris is elected and implements her “defund the police” agenda. As she explained recently on “The Breakfast Club,” she supports the federal government playing a bigger role in setting local policing rules, restricting certain police tactics, and getting rid of qualified immunity for Philadelphia cops.

To prevent horrific shootings like the one that occurred earlier this month and permanently put a stop to crime in their city, Philadelphians need to see beyond short-term statistics and recent headlines and place the blame where it belongs: with progressive Democrats like Larry Krasner and Kamala Harris trying to take credit for reducing crime rates that their radical policies caused to spike in the first place. 

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Kevin Roberts is the president of Heritage Action for America.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.