WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO MAKE OUR CITY SAFE?

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action will host a forum to address the question of what can be done to curb violence and make Philadelphia safe for everyone.

The forum will be held on Saturday, April 26th, 10 am to 12 noon, at the First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

Featured speaker will be new Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who will be joined by a panel that will include Bilal Qayyum from Men United for a Better Philadelphia, Dorothy Johnson Speight, or another representative from Mothers in Charge, and Bryan Miller from CeaseFire PA.

Daily News Columnist Elmer Smith will moderate.

The Inquirer has done some independent analysis of the recommendations in Ramsey's crime plan: specifically, it has looked at where resources are being sent and why.

One big shock: Point Breeze and five other districts with among the worst crime rates in the city last year don't get any more police or money under the plan.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who released his plan on Jan. 30, identified nine high-crime districts where he wants to shift 200 officers to patrol duty. The 17th District, which includes Point Breeze and Grays Ferry, was not among the chosen few.

The nine districts Ramsey selected for special attention are some of the city's most populous and account for nearly two-thirds of Philadelphia's homicides.

But six less-populous police districts - including the 17th - have higher crime rates than some of the districts Ramsey wants to target, according to an Inquirer analysis of the Police Department's 2007 crime statistics. Crime rates provide analysts a way to compare the number of offenses among areas with different populations - the higher the rate, the greater the likelihood someone in those areas will be a victim of a crime.

The apparent reason: Ramsey is committed to getting numbers down, and the more people who live in an area, the more cold hard crime numbers. Even if the crime rate by population is lower, as in areas like University City and Chestnut Hill--both of which are getting added resources.

Ramsey's chosen districts combined account for 55 percent of the city's population. Consequently, they have the highest number of violent crimes. And it is the total number of crimes that Ramsey is focused on reducing.

So this numbers game at least partly accounts for who is targeted for extra help, and who isn't:

Four of the districts Ramsey chose have better-than-average violent-crime rates - the city average is 1,456 incidents per 100,000 residents. They are the 14th District in Northwest Philadelphia, the 35th District straddling Broad Street in the north, and the 18th and 19th Districts in West Philadelphia. They include some of the city's most stable neighborhoods: Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, West Oak Lane, Wynnefield, University City.

Conversely, six districts that reported some of the worst violent-crime rates last year did not make the commissioner's list: the Sixth District, which includes eastern Center City and North Philadelphia; the 16th District, including Mantua and Powelton in West Philadelphia; the 23d District in North Philadelphia; the 24th and 26th Districts, encompassing Kensington, Fishtown and Port Richmond; and the 17th.

Stepping back, most of the reforms Ramsey has proposed are great because they touch on basic policing. If they are achieved, they will help every area in the city, even those that aren't targeted for extra resources.

However, there's one thing that is agreed upon by basically everyone who cares about and pays attention to the crime problem: we need to target resources to where the problems are. This holds for stop-and-frisk (use the data we have to focus on problem corners rather than casting a broad net), as well as where to send patrol officers on their rounds and where to put the money and bodies.

When we are talking about the murder rate, numbers are people, so any drop in that rate is a good in itself. However, this is a very calculated distribution of our limited resources, and that calculation doesn't take into account the desperate need of people in places like Point Breeze, where there are less people but more destructive crime.

Ramsey's 21-page crime plan is, 10 or so pages of filler aside, a steady and sober one. It completely skirts the most troubling parts of Mayor Nutter's campaign rhetoric. Sure, like a bunch of us have observed, it's all in the implementation. But if they can implement this basic return to high visibility, community-based policing, the city will be much better off.

I like when Chief Ramsey says that the changes he is making are sustainable, that it's not Safe Streets and Safer Streets and the Return of Safe Streets--short-term infusions of money that get eaten up in overtime and then are gone.

But I really hope that 'high visibility' 'community-based' policing is not code for bringing misguided 'broken windows'-style policing to Philadelphia.

That would add more victims--and deep costs--to the battle against crime and neighborhood decay.

The Inquirer this morning has an article that claims the crime plan is about just that, those broken windows: "Small arrests aim for major impact."

The new commissioner aims to drive violent crime down 20 percent this year by focusing on fundamentals - shifting more officers from special units to basic patrol. A key tactic of the plan is to focus on quality-of-life issues - such as public intoxication, loitering and gambling - that sometimes escalate into violent crimes or drive law-abiding residents to move elsewhere.

This is a startling leap: is it really 'gambling' that is driving people out of their deeply-scarred neighborhoods? Is there a causal link between cracking down on public intoxication and stopping shootings, rapes, and violent assaults?

The real question the article raises is, will our violent crime problem be fixed one $10 marijuana bust at a time?

As [Officer] Schoch patrolled the neighborhood, he looked for unusual behavior or groups on corners.

"Any time there's a large group of people, you have the potential for victims," he said. He was also on the lookout for pizza deliverers, who have been targets of recent robberies.

About an hour after he hit the road, driving east on Godfrey Avenue near Mascher Street while listening to the police radio and carrying on a conversation, Schoch jerked his head to the left. In seconds, he wheeled his car into a U-turn to intercept the drug transaction. The time was about 5:40.

"Come here," Schoch ordered the first man, who made a quick move away from the officer and tossed a wadded tissue under a parked car. Schoch forced him against his car. He told him to relax and extend his arms behind him for the handcuffs. The suspect, Ivory Jackson, 48, was still clutching a few dollars in his fist.

"I don't want to go through this again," said a bewildered Jackson, who wore a knit cap and an oversize coat.

After Schoch put the suspect into the back of the squad car, he explained what he had witnessed.

"Everything happens with your hands - a narcotics deal, a weapon. I couldn't even tell you what his face looks like. You watch the hands."

It's a small deal, a 1-gram bag of marijuana worth $10. A "dime bag" in the vernacular.

One of the two guys turns out to have a fraud warrant out on him, and they both get taken in and booked. The article is blase about whether or not this is productive or a waste of resources:

Some officers say the effort invested in making a case like this - Schoch and Leva spent two hours processing paperwork and evidence - removes officers from the street to hunt for worse offenders.

But Schoch said such arrests sent a strong message of intolerance for all crime. And it's impossible to say, until the arrest is made, when a minor stop might yield a bigger fish - somebody with a warrant for a violent crime, or somebody carrying an illegal weapon.

Sometimes these small arrests lead to information about bigger crimes, Schoch added.

"Some cops tell me I'm wasting my time with these arrests," he said. "I say I wouldn't want that stuff going on in my neighborhood."

Someone, explain to me what we get from an arrest like this?

The jury is somewhat out on the exact mechanics of the alleged deterrent effects of this "order-maintenance" or "broken windows" policing. I am happy to fight it out in the comments. But the costs of this policing are clear. A Temple study found that 88% percent of inmates in the city prison system are there for nonviolent, low-level offenses. We are under court order to get people out of the prisons who don't need to be there. The collateral costs of incarceration have been catalogued again and again: difficulty finding jobs, loss of resources in families and communities. Our new mayor and concilpeople like Wilson Goode have recognized the need to target reentry and probation to help get people out of the system, into jobs, and away from crime.

We don't need a crime plan that will throw a bunch more people into jail who don't really need to be there. Let's hope the article just shows irresponsible journalism, not policing.

Yesterday, Charles Ramsey and Mayor Nutter released the new crime plan that will be implemented, following Nutter's declaration (fulfilling a campaign promise) of a 'crime emergency' in the city. Despite worries centered around Nutter's "Safety Now" campaign plan, and his rhetoric about civil liberties ("you have the constitutional right not to be shot."), we have a plan centered around community policing...

Thank goodness!

In the 21-page report, stop-and-frisk, already used somewhat by the police force, is mentioned one time. They are also planning to greatly increase the use of surveillance cameras, which I am not a huge fan of.

However, the most worrisome part of Nutter's campaign plan- declaring a state of emergency over entire neighborhoods, with corresponding curfews, going after people 'gathering' on sidewalks, limiting cars going in and out of neighborhoods, etc., has basically vanished. Instead, the plan emphasizes sending more officers into communities, and get back to basics. As Ramsey said:

"There is nothing fancy about it," the former Washington, D.C., police chief said at a news conference. "It's fundamental, it's basic. This is not Batman and Robin coming out of a cave somewhere."

I don't know whether Nutter had a change of heart, whether Ramsey 'walked him back,' or what. And then, we have the the appointment of Everett Gillison as his Deputy Mayor for Public Safety:

"I have spent the majority of my adult life as a social worker or as an attorney representing these people," said Gillison, a lifelong Philadelphian. "We went through this whole bit of 'just lock everybody up' . . . but I always thought those people were our kids."

At the heart of Nutter's campaign was his pledge to reduce violent crime. He's hired a nationally renowned police commissioner who today releases a new crime plan.

But Nutter said he needed better oversight of the entire criminal-justice system. He wanted cooperation among police, judges and prisons. He wanted someone to analyze the big picture and develop new strategies for problems like youth violence and convicts' re-entry into society after prison.

....

Beyond that, Gillison is looking for projects that will help reduce violence in Philadelphia in the long term. He spoke about enhancing re-entry programs and expanding the number of community courts to handle smaller offenses.

Regardless of whether you thought it was a good thing at the time, Nutter ran on a crime platform that policy and rhetoric wise was very law-and-order. However, by his actions thus far, his crime policies as Mayor are pretty basic and reasonably progressive, and will decidedly not launch martial law in Philly neighborhoods. Count me relieved, and happy.

This is part two taken from my own blog written on November 19th. Despite being a few months old, everything still rings true. You can read the original here: http://markskull.blogspot.com/2007/11/civil-rights-and-possible-crime_19.html

THE CHARLES RAMSEY EFFECT

Hello, and welcome to Part 2 of my discussion of the Crime Emergency and the Crime Emergency. Yesterday, I discussed the basic civil rights issues that I feel could be threatened by declaring a Code 10, and asked the question of how long this would last and if it was needed.

Today, we'll start the discussion on the new Police Commissioner, Charles H. Ramsey. But before we do, I want to mention a few things first that I forgot to mention yesterday.

A large amount of my problem with this is, of course, Civil Rights. In all of my writing yesterday, I neglected to mention something that has been bugging me about all of this. Back in May, when Nutter's "Stop-and-Frisk" program was being called to task for violating civil rights, supporters brought up a Court Case where it was declared constitutional.

It was Nutter himself who coined this phase: "It's a Civil Right not to be Shot."

This bumper-sticker phrase was done so well, it is next to impossible to argue against it. To do so seems to allow for the same type of argument used by Conservative Republicans when you disagree with them; "What, do you mean you WANT people to be shot? You don't think it's wrong to kill and murder people?! No wonder you didn't win the election, you cold hearted bastard!"

The fact of the matter is, you don't. You have a right to live, a right to the pursuit of happiness. You have a right to be free and happy, and to live in a safe environment.

You don't have a right to not have bad things happen to you.

(Update from Dan): Everyone should check this out.

Nutter announced our new police chief today at the 51st and Chestnut YMCA: Charles Ramsey, the former head of police in Washington DC.

From philly.com:

Mayor-elect Michael Nutter today named former Washington police chief Charles H. Ramsey as his pick for police commissioner, citing Ramsey's "presence, record and passion" as key assets that he said will "turn the city around and bring about a new day in Philadelphia."

With nearly four decades of police experience, Ramsey comes to Philadelphia about a year after stepping down as the Washington police chief, a position he held from 1998 through 2006.

Nutter made the much-anticipated announcement at the YMCA at 51st Street and Chestnut Street, one of the city's most violent neighborhoods.

Among the criteria he was searching for, the mayor-elect said he wanted someone with a "proven crime-fighting record in a big, urban police department."

Ramsey, who left as the top cop in the nation's capital in January, when new Washington mayor Adrian M. Fenty took office, oversaw a significant drop in crime during his tenure.

He oversaw a 3,900-member police force; Philadelphia has about 6,600 officers.

Last month, Ramsey was a finalist for Baltimore's top police job, but the position went to a veteran of that city's department.

What do you think?