The city of Philadelphia is currently ranked as number 18 on the most dangerous cities list, with over 10,000 violent crimes per year, Philadelphia continues to land on this chart.
According to Philly.com Philadelphia had a violent start entering the year 2013. On New Year’s Day police were already investigating three homicides. The first homicide occurred 30 minutes into the New Year at a party in West Philadelphia. A disagreement over a missing or possibly stolen cell phone cost a 16-year-boy his life. He was shot once in the chest. 2:30 a.m. A fight outside a bar in Frankford caused a 24-year-old man to be shot from outside of his house at 3:40 a.m. A man came looking for his sister at a party at a house in Frankford. He proceeded to shoot and three men were hit, and a 23-year-old man died.
“We have a gun problem in America,” stated Mayor Michael Nutter in an Action News article. “Philadelphia, unfortunately, exhibits its self the worse.”
For three straight years, Philadelphia has seen an increase in homicides. In 2012 there were 337 murders, while in 2011 there were 324 homicides.
Raheem Brown a resident of Philadelphia and sophomore and human services major at Lincoln University stated “You can’t just walk around Philadelphia anywhere, especially by yourself, because that’s not smart”. “I’ve seen people get jumped and even a gun pulled out on someone, so at times I feel really nervous if I’m not in a familiar neighborhood, because it’s not safe”.
According to the Philadelphia Police Department statistical report from December 14, 2012 to February 19, 2013 there has been a total of 10, 568 crimes reported and a total of 44 murders that have been documented. This data is subject to change and can be reclassified.
Since so much crime is occurring in the city recently Philadelphia’s crime data is now separated, between murders, crimes and other homicides. The data has been changed to include three and not one category of “homicide” which helps distinguish the difference of murder and other homicide instances that occur throughout the city. For example homicide is broken into three sub categories: Homicide- criminal, justified and gross negligence. The new police data now reflects the difference. It indicates that the total number of killings, justified, accidental, or criminal is significantly higher about 20% to 25% higher in the past five years than the number of murders that are usually communicated.
These statistics show why Philadelphia is ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. Kaleem Compton a resident of Philadelphia, senior and sociology major at Lincoln University said “I’ve seen people get robbed, beat up and even hit by cars living in Philadelphia, but the most horrible thing is seeing someone get shot and bleed to death”. “That happens to often living here, but sadly you get used to seeing it or even hearing about it on the news”.
In a December 31, 2012 article titled Philadelphia’s murder rate up slightly in 2012 Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said, “The murder rate is up partly because shootings have become more deadly”. “When you get shot, you don’t just get shot once. You get shot multiple times with high-caliber weapons,” he said. “We did an analysis for the first half of the year, and we found a 30 percent increase in the number of people shot multiple times.”
Families of victims are deeply affected by the crime and overall gun violence that occurs in Philadelphia. Naima Rosser lost her uncle in a bar shooting back in Dec. 2012. She explained that she was shocked at the announcement of her uncle’s death. She says that her uncle was a good man and she would have never thought that this incident would occur. “My uncle Irving never got in to any trouble; he went to work and took care of his family. I would have never thought he would die that way.”The story provided shows that crime in Philadelphia needs to be resolved in some kind of way.
Currently the Mayor and police force are debating on the decision to put into action stop and frisk operations. The city decided to employ civil rights safeguards such as an electronic database to assure the legality of stops, and street cops have also undergone additional training and are kept in checked by an “independent monitor,” so these operations can work effectively. According to The Village Voice titled Stop and Frisk: It’s in Philadelphia Too.
In addition, the Mayor introduced a crime fighting program that includes a $20,000 rewards for information leading to the conviction of homicides, quoted he is preparing additional measures.
“We expect early in the year to make a series of announcement about issues relating to guns and much more aggressive action by the city,” stated Mayor Nutter.
Based on the information provided by the authorities of Philadelphia they hope the crimes should subsidize over the next few years.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8936349
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/pa/philadelphia/crime/
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/pa/philadelphia/crime?gclid=CIf14Nm_wrUCFY6e4AodehAAyg
http://articles.philly.com/2013-01-02/news/36113605_1_gunshot-wounds-unidentified-man-tioga-section
http://axisphilly.org/article/city-crime-data-murders/
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local//region/49034-in-2012-philadelphias-murder-rate-rises-slightly
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/07/stop_and_frisk.php
R.Cohen
Gun Violence in America 
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