Violent crime is down in Philadelphia, but residents still have concerns
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia police say rates of violent crime, shootings and homicides are down city wide.
This comes after another teenager was shot and killed over the weekend, and as police hope to keep young people safe this summer.
Frustration at 52nd and Market Streets – on the eve of an election, people are demanding police do more after a 14-year-old was shot and killed this weekend on El platform in West Philadelphia.
"My kids don't even get on the SEPTA bus or the El," a woman said. "They get in Ubers. It's ridiculous. It's really ridiculous, what is it gonna take for it? What's it going to take?"
"I don't like to say it, but I would go back to the old search, go back to stop and frisk, because there are too many guns, you have 14-year-olds riding around on bikes with machine guns," a man said.
At a news conference — we took the policy question of "stop and frisk" to Mayor Jim Kenney.
"Look, there's an election tomorrow," Kenney said. "You can make a decision if you live in the city, you can make a decision on who you think is going to fight crime the best. History has shown that when stop and frisk, so to speak, was in full bloom, they weren't taking more guns off the street, all they were doing was angering a lot of people of color who felt put upon being stopped for apparently no reason in their minds."
Police say a 14-year-old named Wort Whipple got into a fight with his killer.
Investigators say the shooter took off and burned what he was wearing a short distance away.
But talk of how to prepare for safe summertime fun brought a response from Kenney concerning the use of a curfew for teens, framing how apparently dangerous city streets are late at night.
"It's to keep them from getting shot or hurt, and to be able to put them in a car and take them to their own home or to a resource center," Kenney said.
At the same news conference where investigators hailed gains in bringing down the numbers of homicides and shootings — the moment was somewhat overshadowed by the murder of a 14-year-old.
"I can spout out numbers all day long, but if someone, a child whomever, a mother, a parent still doesn't feel safe in allowing their young person to walk to the corner store, or go to school or to play in a place that's supposed to be designed to be safe for them, it really means nothing," Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.
Police said homicides are down by 13 since last year, shootings are down by two dozen, carjackings are down by 33.
Police announced the use of school safety officers to beef up security at city pools.
Patrol officers will also be on the beat at rec centers.
Data shows increases in officers in some of the more traditionally violent parts of the city have seen decreases in crime.
