Editorial: A peaceful future?
The Collegian announces its early favorite mayoral platform

February 28, 2007

Crime is one of the biggest issues for this year’s mayoral candidates, considering that Philadelphia ended its 2006-2007 year with a whopping 406 murders. The Republican candidate, Al Taubenberger, has yet to fully flesh out his stance on crime. The Democratic candidates who have outlined plans to make the city safer all agree on numerous methods, such as employing more officers, better technology and community involvement. However, each candidate has his own way of putting his or her ideas into action.

PA State Representative (203rd district) Dwight Evans’ crime strategy, “A Safer Philadelphia – Block by Block,” outlines several methods for lowering the crime rate in Philadelphia. Evans calls for better law enforcement, which includes increasing the police force by at least 500, attacking gun crime, identifying and targeting “impact zones,” which are areas of the city with the most activity (northern and western parts of the city). Furthermore, Evans plans on enacting a “Zero Tolerance for Assaults on Our Quality of Life” campaign that will “bolster efforts to enforce quality of life ordinances and to act swiftly to resolve problems that citizens and neighborhood organizations have identified.” He also plans on calling a special session of the City Council as soon as he is inaugurated to discuss crime reduction, focusing on many long-term plans. Evans then calls for an effective justice system that will protect witnesses, increase jail space, probation and parole staff and implement a system of coerced abstinence within the Philadelphia probation and parole system to reduce offender drug use. Evans further calls for reforms in education and community cohesion.

Congressman Chaka Fattah endorses a number of strategies for combating gun violence in Philadelphia. First, Fattah wants to increase the use of technology by putting 1,000 surveillance cameras throughout the city and collaborating with businesses to make their surveillance cameras available to the police department. In addition, Fattah wants to seek two cutting edge systems that will help reduce gun violence in the city: the enactment of a pilot program of an acoustic gunshot detection system, and the use of gun detection imaging software, which will help identify people who carry guns by an tracking the person’s movement. He also wants to improve police performance by increasing the number of police officers and maximizing the effectiveness of existing officers. Furthermore, he wants to provide incentives to get illegal guns off the streets by establishing a private fund to reward citizens for tips leading to their confiscation and instituting a program called “Goods for Guns,” which will give rewards such as grocery store vouchers in return for illegal firearms. By partnering with neighborhood groups, rallying faith-based communities and calling on celebrities and role models from the Philadelphia area, Fattah hopes to encourage community and citizen involvement in the fight against gun violence. Finally, Fattah wants to invest in programs that have a proven record of success and maximize supervision of gun offenders to constructively engage them and those most likely to participate in gun violence.

Former councilman Michael Nutter has a plan that calls for the declaration of a crime emergency in Targeted Enforcement Zones, which are the areas of the city with the most crime. By declaring a state of crime emergency, Nutter can prohibit and limit gatherings of people on sidewalks, streets or any outdoor place in the designated neighborhoods, stop or limit the movement of vehicles through or within the neighborhoods, establish a curfew for all people living in the neighborhoods and prohibit the sale, carrying or possession of firearms in public within the neighborhoods. Nutter also plans to redeploy police, utilize stop-and-frisk strategies, expand Philadelphia’s number of surveillance cameras and pursue arrest warrants. Further, he plans to focus on repeat offenders, fugitives and probation and parole violators throughout the city. This initiative calls for a Public Safety Cabinet, as well as a Regional Public Safety Roundtable, to build and coordinate communications and missions of all agencies capable of addressing violence reduction among juveniles and adults. He will also increase the incentives for businesses to hire ex-offenders by proposing a three-year tax credit. Furthermore, Nutter will promote and expand the Homicide Prevention Program and the Youth Violence Reduction Program, as well as invest in a prisoner reentry program.

Businessman Tom Knox calls for new resources for Law Enforcement, which includes the hiring of 1,000 new uniformed officers and updating law enforcement technology and tactics. Knox also wants to enhance the coordination and communication between existing programs that fight violence by creating a mayor’s office of Public Safety. Knox intends to crack down on the use of illegal guns by implementing new gun laws, such as new trafficking legislation, which will limit the purchase of guns to one per month per person, gun registration and ballistic fingerprinting laws. In addition, he plans on requiring a waiting period for handgun purchases and gun safety, safe storage and gun licensure requirements. Furthermore, Knox wants to better community engagement by incorporating an anonymous crime tip line, supporting citizen groups and implementing a system of community-based criminal justice. Finally, Knox also lists long-term initiatives he wishes to tackle such as reducing repeat offenders by 25 percent, implementing new job training and education programs, supporting at-risk youth and improving the Philadelphia School District.

Some new candidates, such as democratic Rep. Brady have similar crime plans.

The Collegian preliminarily favors Fattah’s realistic plan of action to reduce crime in Philadelphia. We view his plan to be the most comprehensive and most practical of those offered, the least egregiously offensive and best put together. While this is not our official mayoral endorsement for the 2008 race, Fattah’s plan seems to be the most beneficial for the city; in the wake of a bloody year, we express hope for peaceful years to come, and thus far, Fattah is on the right track.