Posted on 07/26/2006 2:55:17 PM PDT by Graybeard58
PHILADELPHIA -- Less than two-thirds of the way through the year, Philadelphia police officers have shot and killed 16 people -- already the highest annual total in the city in at least a quarter-century.
Department officials said that gun violence in Philadelphia is up and that criminals seem to be quicker these days to threaten police and others with a weapon, forcing officers to defend themselves.
"It's not an issue of people not following policy," said Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross, who added that the department was not seeing any repeat shooters in is ranks.
In all of last year, officers shot seven suspects to death. Since 1980, FBI figures shows the worst year for justified homicides by Philadelphia police officers was 2004, when there were 15.
Neither the FBI nor the department had data for the years before 1980.
Authorities said most, if not all, of the shootings involved officers who were threatened or feared for their safety. No charges have been brought against any officers.
The latest shooting came early Sunday, when an officer killed a suspect during a chase. Authorities said the officer told them that the suspect had pointed a weapon at him, and that a gun was found at the scene.
In June, a man crashed a stolen car while fleeing police, pulled a gun and was shot.
to death, authorities said. In April, two home-invasion suspects were killed in an exchange of gunfire.
Philadelphia had 220 homicides this year through Monday, an increase of more than 7 percent over the same period last year.
In May, Gary Skerski became the first city officer killed in the line of duty in a decade. Skerski and his partner were responding to a 911 call at a bar when a robber hit Skerski in the neck with a shotgun blast as the officer was about to enter through the back door.
Experts outside the department said that the number of police shootings is alarming and needs to be monitored. But they emphasized that the statistics alone cannot tell the story.
"If the streets are becoming more deadly for the officers ... well, then they have to shoot or be killed," said Ellen Green-Ceisler, who in 2005 completed a report on officer-involved shootings in Philadelphia while head of a court-approved podice acaountability unit. "You have to be so careful of 20-20 hindsight."
Mayor John Street also has emphasized that officers have a right to defend themselves and should not be automatically second-guessed.
In Miami, police said there have been no fatal shootings by officers in 2006. In Los Angeles, six suspects had been killed in officer-involved shootings through July 5, similar to the pace in 2005 and down from 2004, spokeswoman April Harding said.
Rizzo was da MAN! in the mid-70's. Now, I'm in AZ, and it's Rizzo-part II with Sheriff Joe Arpaio out here.
A Virginia Beach Poice officer shot and killed a knife wielding wacko.Here
If your stomach can handle it, try the "Pen Pals" movie to see part of the three-year, $1,000,000 campaign started in November 2003. (I'm hoping that means it's done, without renewal, in a few months.)
Virginia vs. Philly AGAIN?
Philly doesn't even need cops, as long as there are 66-year-olds with jars of applesauce: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1667168/posts
This kind of crime rate didn't go on when Rizzo was Mayor
I still remember that
I also remember being on vacation in Colorado when Willie B. Goode was Mayor and watching on national tv ... several blocks in flames
Thanks for the link.
apple butter! They like it on scrapple! LOL
Many years ago Esquire Magazine used to have the Dubious Achievement of the Year Awards every January.
One of my favorites: the 6 Philadelphia police officers who were suspended for having a shaving cream fight in a squad car.
Another fave, the guy who held up a bank with a jock strap over his face.
A runner-up was a vet who specialized in artificial insemination of elephants. What he had to do to obtain his raw materials, OMG.
According to Wikipedia:
" About 10,000 rounds of ammunition were fired by the police in to the house. 62 houses burned to the ground; only Ramona Africa and Michael Ward (aka Birdie Africa) escaped alive. Six adults and five children in the MOVE house were killed."
Well, think of it this way. If they're dead, all of our hard earned tax dollars will not go to them for housing in prison!!
Cops have a hard enough job as it is, without all these idiotic gun-toting creeps having the nerve to even pull a gun on them. Give the cops a break, people!! Do you expect these cops to be mind-readers too, and when one of these morons pulls out a gun, they're supposed to know if the guy is going to shoot him dead or injured or just being a big shot and gets the "honor" (EXTREME SARCASM ON "HONOR") when he gets put in prison (hopefully wounded to teach him a lesson), to tell his fellow inmates "Hey, I pulled a gun on a cop!!"
If ANYONE has the nerve to pull a gun on a cop, he/she should be shot dead on site. These men & women chose a very honorable career, to PROTECT & SERVE THE CITIZENS.
By the way, GO PHILLY POLICE!! You're the best!
Yeah, one of the biggest dealers in there gets to live, and the 7-year old drug dealers die??
Too bad she didn't roast along with them......
Yes, she was employing her kids, as young as 7 yrs. old, to deal drugs!!
They'd grow up to be cop-shooting, murdering, raping, gang bangers who don't deserve the gift of life. I'M GLAD THEY DECIDED TO DROP A BOMB ON HER HOUSE!!!!!!!
It sounds like you know a lot about that situation.
Is that woman still alive?
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