Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, 1968-2008
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Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, 1968-2008
Philadelphia has lost one of its finest: a father, a husband, a native son:
"Basically we lost another good officer," said John McNesby, president of Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police. "He's a hero. He gave his life fighting for what he believed in, which was protecting the citizens of this city."
"Yesterday, police closed off the quiet, tree-lined block of Claridge Street in the Northeast, where the Liczbinski family lives, to give the family some peace.
A neighbor, Michael Cosgrove, said one of his fondest memories of Liczbinski was, when he would come home from work, his daughter, Amber, would run up and give him a hug.
When it comes to crime, the bottom line is this. The so-called "conservative" voices are right. There is something wrong in the culture of this this city when people -- if these heartless thugs can be called that at this point -- have such little respect for the life of a little girl's dad that they will gun him down in cold blood...for what? Sgt. Liczbinski's murder is no isolated incident, but the third killing of an on-duty cop in just two years after a decade in which none were killed. Something has gone horribly off-kilter here.
And yet the so-called "liberal" voices are right, too. There is also something very seriously wrong with the culture of this state when people can possess a high-powered Chinese SKS assault rifle, a still-legal weapon that has about as much to do with Pennsylvania's beloved sport of deer hunting as a hand grenade has to do with horseshoes. And yet lawmakers from the state's relatively placid countryside continue to impose their outdated and inadequate gun laws on a city where the deer are few -- but the killing of human beings is plentiful.
There's only one way it ends. The vast majority of decent citizens of this city and this state come together and do it all -- better community values but also better gun laws, more cops on the street but also more jobs in the worst neighborhoods. It's a tall order -- it takes courage and money and time, all things that seem to be in short supply at time around here.
But Stephen Liczbinski's three children, and their generation, deserve nothing less from us.
In general, I think the sentencing disparity between non-violent/non-victim, non-violent/property, and violent/victim crimes should be corrected. Sentences should go from generally lenient to generally strict. Next, repeat offenders should be sentenced punitively and denied parole, having sentences cut for good-behavior, etc, for most offenses. Also what needs to occur, imo, is better acceptance of one-time offenders back into society. There isn't too much government can do here, since private companies make most hiring/firing decisions.. so I'm not sure of an exact solution. Maybe a tax break, who knows. The point of all these ideas would be to allow people to make one 'youthful indiscretion' and give them a chance to turn it around. If they get out of the system and return to crimes, that's it.— Politburo
Comment removed.- TPS-I'm so tired of career criminals who's only accomplishment in life is to ruin someone else's family.So yep,YAP favors the death penalty.— Yankee Air Pirate 12
- I'm tired of them also, YAP. But when you get down into the details of how do deal with the situation, instead of cheap platitudes, it gets more complicated. Do you, like b.at(ch) follow the lunatic conspiracy theory that "liberals" are in control of the criminal justice system? If not, then surely you realize that even conservatives in law enforcement have a hard time dealing with where the line is drawn on who to sentence to capital punishment, how to balance a vigorous defense with aggressive prosecuting criminals, when releasing offenders makes sense given prison overcrowding, the costs involved, the cost/benefit of leaving people in an environment where they're likely to become that much more hardened in their criminality, etc. Maybe if you wake up and realize that law-abiding liberals are just as concerned about crime as conservatives, although they might disagree about which tactics and strategies are the most effective, then there can be enough of a consensus developed to allow for progress to be made. Or, then again, you can join b.at(ch) in railing against his imagined enemy?— Talking point sleuth
- Comment removed.
- TPS-You're reading an awful lot into my posts.So much so that I felt it necessary to reread what I had written.Perhaps you should too.— Yankee Air Pirate 12
- How was I wrong, YAP?— Talking point sleuth
- (Don't forget, YAP, that there's a 1000 character restriction on comments— Talking point sleuth
- Where did I make a distinction between Liberals & Conservatives ?— Yankee Air Pirate 12
- Fair enough, YAPpy. Then I take it that you don't believe, as does b.at(ch) that liberals aren't concerned about crime, and that you don't believe, as does b.at(ch) that the problems with our judicial system can be laid at the feet of liberals. I apologize.— Talking point sleuth
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