As former President Trump and Vice President Harris prepare to square off in their first 2024 presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday, critics of the local Democrat leadership are bringing crime in the city to the forefront.
Harris, a former district attorney in San Francisco and Attorney General of California, refers to herself as a former top cop but has been dubbed the "patron saint of leftist prosecutors" by Republican critics of policies that stop short of holding criminals accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
City police statistics show year-to-date homicides climbed every year from 2019 to 2022, when they reached a 16-year-high before dropping in 2023 and again in 2024.
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Harris, as vice president, plays no direct role in Philadelphia affairs, but critics say her career path in California helped blaze a trail for progressive prosecutors who have taken office in big cities around the U.S.
Philadelphia's district attorney, Larry Krasner, is a controversial left-wing prosecutor himself, and although official statistics show a decline in violent crime over the last two years, both saw more homicides than when he took office in 2018. That year, there were 353. In 2021, there was a peak of 562 before the total dropped to 514 in 2022 and again to 410 in 2023.
Krasner wrote on X last week that the city "must continue to address the root cause of violence," adding that he sees "one factor" as "trauma stemming from gun violence." A spokesperson for his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Violent crime overall is down by about 9.73% this year compared to last, but brazen criminals continue to shock the city.
But the statistics may be misleading, according to David Gelman, a local defense attorney and former prosecutor.
"There is no way homicides have decreased the last two years. The only reason they say that is because they have not termed it homicide," he told Fox News Digital. "Turn on the local news, and there are shootings and murders all day in the city, it's a war zone."
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At least six city police officers have been shot so far this year, up from three in all of 2023, according to the department's website.
"Philadelphia is taking a victory lap because they got their homicides down to 410 last year," said Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector. "But 410 extrapolated to New York City in terms of population puts them well above the highest level of murders ever recorded in New York City when New York was known as ‘Murder Town USA.’"
Mauro maintains that homicides aren't the proper metric to judge a city's crime problems but rather should be robberies, which declined last year after spiking dramatically in 2022 and 2021.
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And for Gelman, who lives just outside the city limits, the problems are tangible.
"Put it this way: I would go to the city all the time for dinner and whatnot," he told Fox News Digital. "Now, you couldn’t pay me to go in unless I have to go to a doctor appointment. Even in the good areas, it’s dangerous."
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In late August, police asked for the public's help identifying a pair of young gunpoint carjackers, one of whom they believe could be just 10 years old.
In July, police arrested a 28-year-old woman after she allegedly shot a 7-month-old in the leg over his parents' $100 drug debt, screaming, "F--- your baby," on video.
That same week, a shooting in West Philadelphia left three men dead and six people wounded at a block party.
Harris, however, continues to paint herself as a former "cop" on the campaign trail, referencing her prior positions as a prosecutor despite having publicly supported bail funds that help get criminal suspects out of jail, including at least two who went on to be accused of murder after their release.
In 2020, she solicited donations from her supporters for the Minnesota Freedom Fund, ostensibly to post bail for Black Lives Matter protesters arrested during anti-police rioting in the spring and summer of 2020 after George Floyd's death while being detained by police in Minnesota.
Other suspects also received bail money. George Howard, accused of domestic violence, went free and allegedly shot and killed another man in a road rage fight. Shawn Michael Tillman made bail a year later with help from the fund. He then allegedly found a rival at a train station and shot him six times.
Harris' office has not responded to multiple requests for comment on the bail fund recipients.
