Nutter talks crime, police-community relations as he recaps 2014

Mayor Nutter looked back on 2014 in a press conference, Monday, recapping how the city fared over the past year, with a focus on relationships between law enforcement and citizens.

Given the national outcry over police-involved deaths in Ferguson and Staten Island, Mayor Nutter thanked law enforcement in Philadelphia for their work and encouraged mutual respect between police and community members.

"People want good policing in their neighborhoods regardless of the race or gender of the officer. Citizens need police, police need the citizens," Nutter said.

Nutter, joined by Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, union leaders John McNesby and Joe Schuley, and uniformed officers, touted the drop in violent crime from when he took office in 2007.

There were 247 homicides in Philadelphia in 2014 and 391 in 2006, a 36 percent drop, Nutter noted.

Violent crimes are down 25 percent and shootings decreased 34 percent, over the same time period, Nutter said.

Several other major cities including New York and Chicago saw similar dips.

Shootings are at the lowest number since the department started calculating them, Nutter said. He noted, "The difference between a shooting and a homicide, unfortunately is sometimes just aim or more importantly excellent medical attention."

Nutter said four people were killed in police-involved incidents in Philadelphia last year. Of them, he said three were found in possession of a weapon and the fourth started physically fighting with officers.

In 2013 twelve people were killed by police, he said.

"If you shoot at a Philadelphia Police officer … more than likely they're going to shoot back, it's their job…so my recommendation is, don't shoot at the police. Don't fight with the police," Nutter said.

Seven officers have died in the line of duty in the past seven years, Nutter said.

Nutter complimented the work of community anti-violence groups and police for forging a good relationship but said work remains.

"There has to be an understanding between community members who have serious legitimate concerns and rights and issues and complaints and feelings about how they'd like to be treated by the police and at the same time the officers out there doing their job, who want to be able to go home to their families," he said. "They're risking their lives and they want some level or respect and appreciation for the hard work that they're doing out on the streets every day."

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