As former President Trump and Vice President Harris prepare to face off in their first presidential debate of 2024 in Philadelphia on Tuesday, critics of local Democrat leadership are bringing up crime in the city.
Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, describes herself as a former top cop, but she has been called “Patron saint of left-wing prosecutorsThe comment has been made by Republican critics of policies that fail to hold offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
City police data show the number of murders rose every year from 2019 to 2022, when they hit a 16-year high, followed by a decline in 2023 and then in 2024.
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Vice President Harris (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images/File)
Harris, as Vice PresidentHe had no direct role in the Philadelphia cases, but critics say his career in California helped pave the way for progressive prosecutors who have taken office in big cities across the U.S.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is himself a controversial left-wing prosecutor, and although official statistics show a drop in violent crime over the past two years, there were more murders in both years than when he took office in 2018. That year, there were 353. In 2021, the total peaked at 562, before the total drops again to 514 in 2022 and 410 in 2023.
Krasner wrote on X last week that the city must “continue to address the root causes of violence,” adding that he sees “one factor” as “trauma resulting from gun violence.” A spokesperson for his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Violent crime has decreased overall by about 9.73% this year compared to last year, but brazen criminals continue to terrorize the city.
But according to local defense attorney and former prosecutor David Gellman, those statistics can be misleading.
“There has been no decrease in murders in the last two years. The only reason they say that is because they haven’t called it murder,” he told Fox News Digital. “Turn on the local news, and there are shootings and murders all day long in the city, it’s a war zone.”
former president trump (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images/File)
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At least six city police officers have been shot so far this year, while in 2023 the number will be three, according to the report. Department’s website,
“Philadelphia is on its way to winning ways, as they reached 410 homicides last year,” said retired NYPD Inspector Paul Mauro. “But New York City, in terms of population, has an increase of 410, which is well above the highest number of homicides ever recorded in New York City, when New York was known as ‘Murder Town USA.'”
Mauro says murders are not the proper yardstick for assessing a city’s crime problems, but rather robberies, which decreased last year after dramatically increasing in 2022 and 2021, should be.
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Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (AP Photo/Matt Rourke/File)
And for Gelman, who lives just outside the city limits, the problems are real.
“Put it this way: I used to always go downtown for dinner and stuff,” he told Fox News Digital. “Now, you can’t give me money unless I have to go to the doctor. It’s dangerous, even in nice areas.”
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In late August, police asked the public for help in identifying two young men who stole a car at gunpoint, one of whom they believe may just be a car thief. 10 years old,
In July, police arrested a 28-year-old woman after she allegedly shot a 7-month-old baby in the leg over a $100 drug debt her parents owed, screaming on video, “Fuck your baby.”
That same week, three people were killed and six injured in a shooting at a block party in West Philadelphia.
However, Harris has continued to portray herself as a former “cop” during the campaign, citing her former positions as a prosecutor and saying she publicly supported bail funds that help get criminal suspects out of jail, including at least two people who were charged with murder after being released.
Then-Senator Kamala Harris sits in silence with fellow Democrats from the House and Senate in honor of George Floyd at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center on June 8, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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In 2020, he solicited donations from his supporters for the Minnesota Freedom Fund, intended to pay bail for Black Lives Matter protesters who were arrested during the anti-police riots in the spring and summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd while being detained by police in Minnesota.
Other suspects also posted bail. George Howard, accused of domestic violence, was released and allegedly shot and killed another man in a street fight. Shawn Michael Tillman He was released on bail a year later with the help of funds. He then allegedly tracked down a rival at a train station and shot him six times.
Harris’ office has not responded to multiple requests for comment on bail money recipients.
