Nutter seeks even lower crime rates

Homicide and violent crime decreased substantially during the first half of the year, but the decline is not keeping pace with the ambitious goals set by Mayor Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey.

The Philadelphia Police Department reported that murders were down about 20 percent for the first six months of the year - 164 homicides as of Thursday, compared with 204 during the same period last year.

In January, Nutter and Ramsey set a goal of a 25 percent reduction from last year's total of 392 murders; that would amount to 294. At the current pace, the city is on track to record a tally closer to 320.

Violent crime is down 6 percent this year, short of the 20 percent reduction that Nutter and Ramsey set as a goal in January.

Ramsey, the former Washington chief who was appointed in January when Nutter assumed office, said in an interview on Thursday that he was still optimistic the homicide target could be met, but said the goals were deliberately set high. "Granted, all these are 'stretch goals,' " he said. "I think you really shoot for as far as you can go and see where you can end up."

Nutter said his administration's strategy to deploy more officers on the street was only beginning to produce benefits.

"Halfway through the year, we're certainly on the path to meet or exceed our goals," he said on Friday. "The strategy does take a little time to kick in. I'm not sure if all the criminals in the city have gotten the full message yet."

On the whole, the preliminary crime statistics under the new administration's watch show positive trends: more arrests, more guns seized, more violent crimes cleared.

One cloud on the horizon: Property crime is up 1 percent, which Ramsey says may indicate more people are resorting to theft in a soft economy.

"When you first start to see a downturn in the economy, it's often reflected in property crime," Ramsey said. "Or sometime it's just thieves. That's what they do for a living."

Ramsey said the department's more aggressive stop-and-frisk strategy aimed at keeping illegal weapons off the street was also yielding benefits. Police stopped 103,433 pedestrians during the first half of the year, a 58 percent increase, and 193,300 vehicles, a 17 percent increase. Police seized 1,570 weapons, a 2.3 percent increase over last year.

But the department said more citizens had filed complaints against the police this year, which may reflect the additional contact with the public. Ramsey said 273 complaints had been filed this year, an 11 percent increase over last year.

"I'd like to also think people feel a little more comfortable reporting what they think is misconduct," he said. "I'd like people to think they can contact us and we take the complaint seriously."

Ramsey released the statistics ahead of a series of six Town Hall meetings he has scheduled this month. He held a similar series of meetings in January before unveiling his crime plan, which called for putting more officers on patrol to increase the department's visibility.

"Are there still issues out there?" he said. The aim is just to get a feel from people how they perceive we're doing."

Much of Ramsey's strategy is built on increasing the 6,700-member department's visibility. He redeployed 250 officers into uniformed patrol; some were new recruits, others came from special units. Commanders are also under orders to wear uniforms, and most officers other than detectives and undercover officers have traded in their street clothes for uniforms.

"For me to say I have more cops on the street is one thing. If people don't see them, what good does it do? Ultimately, it's public perception - the public's sense of safety and security - is what really matters."

Ramsey said the department is deploying a "mobile force" of officers to work extra shifts during the high-crime summer weekends, including officers normally assigned to desk duty.

So far this year, violent crime decreased in all but two of the city's 23 police districts - the 3d in South Philadelphia and the 7th in Northeast Philadelphia.

The rate of decrease was highest in the nine districts where resources were concentrated under Ramsey's crime plan: the 12th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 22d, 25th, 35th and 39th Districts.

"Those nine districts drove our crime to a large extent last year," Ramsey said. "So the strategy of putting more cops on the street, more on patrol, is paying off now."

Of the 164 homicides recorded, 82 percent were committed with guns. Fifty-three percent were the result of arguments, often petty, and are crimes that are very difficult to prevent.

"We had a homicide where a woman stabbed a guy over a bag of potato chips," said Ramsey. "It's stupid stuff, absolutely stupid."

Detectives are clearing about 70 percent of the homicides, compared to 62 percent last year and about 51 percent the year before.

Police cleared about 55 percent of all violent crimes, up from 46 percent last year. Crimes are "cleared" generally when an arrest is made.

Ramsey said he was unconcerned that the department might not meet its crime-reduction targets. "It's not whether or not you meet the goal that defines success or failure, it's really how hard you are working."

At a retreat with commanders last week, Ramsey said he emphasized the need for the force to pay less attention to internal politics and more to its mission.

"Let's not focus on all the distractions out there - who likes who, who doesn't like who," he said. "That's all bulls- and it takes you away from the mission. We're here to make the streets safe."

A schedule of Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey's meetings this month (all will begin at 7 p.m.):

Southwest Division: tomorrow, Metropolitan Baptist Church, 3500 Baring St., for residents of the 12th, 16th, 18th and 19th Districts.

Northwest Division: Thursday, Arthur Ashe Tennis Center, 4842 Ridge Ave., for residents of the Fifth, 14th, 35th and 39th Districts.

Central Division: July 15, Community College of Philadelphia's Bonnell Building, 1600 Spring Garden St., for residents of the Sixth, Ninth, 22d and 23d Districts.

East Division: July 17, St. Anne's Parish Hall, second floor, Memphis and Tucker Streets, for residents of the 24th, 25th and 26th Districts.

South Division: July 22, Penn's Landing Catering, 1301 S. Columbus Blvd., for residents of the First, Third, Fourth and 17th Districts.

Northeast Division: July 24, John Perzel Center, 2990 St. Vincent St., for residents of the Second, Seventh, Eighth and 15th Districts.

EndText