Anyone know why a two helicopter's were flying over around 50th and Chester last night around 11pm? They both had spotlights on appearing to be looking for someone down below.

I suppose I should acknowledge that my early optimism about the murder rate was unwarranted:

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/14405837.htm

Safer streets in Phila.? Not this year

Despite increased police efforts, recent statistics seem to show murder and violence remaining unabated in 2006.

By Robert Moran

Inquirer Staff Writer

Despite Mayor Street's crackdown in response to last year's surge in murder and violence, the killing in Philadelphia continues unabated. And more people are getting shot, too.
By early Friday, there had been 106 slayings this year - one more than in the comparable period last year.
"Obviously, if they're the same numbers they were last year, we're not making any progress," Councilman James F. Kenney said.
As of Wednesday, the number of people wounded by gunfire in Philadelphia was 507 - a near 8 percent increase over the 470 for the same period last year.
Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson argued that the police initiative - dubbed Operation Safer Streets - is making progress and will eventually rein in the violence.
"I feel very confident that the shootings will go down," he said.
And if they don't?
"We'll have to come up with another plan," he said. "But I think it's too early."
Ralph B. Taylor, a Temple University criminologist, agreed. "I think it's really premature, lacking any detailed analysis, to say it's working or not working," he said.
"It can be that it's working in some places and not in other places. It's always possible that it's working and it could be worse" without Safer Streets, Taylor said. "Bottom line, we don't know what's going on."
Meanwhile, murders are on the decline or at modern-era lows in other major cities, such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, where homicides last year dropped to a level not seen since the early 1960s. Chicago is down another 14 percent so far this year.
In Miami, where former Philadelphia Police Commissioner John F. Timoney is now chief, the city saw its lowest number of killings since the 1960s last year.
As of Wednesday, Miami - which has one-fourth the population of Philadelphia and one-sixth the number of police - had had 14 murders, the same as last year, Timoney said.
Why can't Philadelphia calm the fury on its own streets?
"It looks like the bad guys have the edge, but it's not true," said antidrug activist C.B. Kimmins, who blames the high level of violence on easy access to guns and a growing acceptance in some neighborhoods of illegal behavior.
"I don't blame the police," Kimmins said.
Said Johnson, "Everything law enforcement can possibly do, we're doing."
He dismissed comparisons of Philadelphia with other cities. As he and other city officials have done many times before, he blamed the ready availability of guns. He concurred with Kimmins about residents who tolerate - even embrace - criminality.
"Anytime you have a community that will welcome a drug dealer, call him a brother, and turn their back on the police - we have to change the mind-set of those people," Johnson said.
Last year, Philadelphia police recorded 380 murders, the most since 1997, the year before Timoney arrived in Philadelphia. He left in January 2002.
In response, the Police Department in December launched a targeted crackdown in six "hot spots" identified as having high concentrations of violence and fugitives.
According to police statistics, officers have clearly stepped up their activity.
From January through March, gun arrests and confiscations have increased. Truancy and other juvenile arrests are up, as are drug arrests.
Last year, police confiscated $88 million in drugs. So far this year, the police have seized $66 million in drugs. Johnson said citizen tips on drug dealers have increased.
As part of the broader goal of community participation, the city has trained more than 800 new block captains and Town Watch members, Street spokesman Joe Grace said.
"This is a long-term effort," Grace said.
Citing the shutdown of blatant, open-air drug markets by Safer Streets' predecessor, the costly Operation Safe Streets, Johnson said the quality of life has improved in the city.
But he acknowledged that the violence has proven stubborn and frustrating, especially with the rise in witness intimidation and the "don't snitch" ethos that is prevailing on the streets.
In some of the murder cases, Johnson said, "we know exactly who did it" - but witnesses won't go to court.
"It seems that negative energy is building within the city at an increasing rate," said anticrime activist Greg Bucceroni.
He offered one reason: police success in reducing drug trafficking in the city. That has led to a negative outcome in terms of violence as drug dealers and gangs viciously compete for fewer drug dollars.
]He also blamed a "lack of overwhelming citizen involvement in assisting the Police Department in ridding their neighborhoods from criminal activities."
Bucceroni suggested that it was unfair to compare New York's success to Philadelphia because New York has far more police officers and Philadelphia's force has shrunk in recent years. Still, New York and Philadelphia have virtually the same number of officers per capita.
Street has proposed adding $10 million in police overtime, but no increase in the number of officers. Councilman Michael A. Nutter has proposed adding 250 officers over the next three years.
"People are angry. People are scared," Nutter said about the high rate of violent crime. "People want to know: One, what are we going to do about it? Two, why don't we have more police officers throughout the city?"
Councilman Kenney agreed with Nutter about boosting the police force and added that the city needed more federal help to stem illegal gun trafficking.
"I don't dismiss or forgive the young shooter on the street, but his circumstance is different than the large trafficker of guns throughout the city," Kenney said.
He said the police needed to increase their aggressiveness on the streets with more pedestrian and vehicle stops - and that always raises the concerns of civil libertarians.
But, Kenney said, "I can't think of a more civil liberty than the ability to stay alive."

I caught wind tonight that a friend of mine was violently mugged last Monday night. Given how badly he was injured and the fact that he's my friend, I feel this needs to be a separate thread. Here's what I've heard:

On Monday night, I was walking over to Iris' place. We had discussed going out for coffee, but she wanted to hang at home before coffee. I was walking down the street and passed by a guy who glanced at me, looked at another guy across the street, and whistled. This was pretty weird, so I ran across the street. I walked at a quick pace, but I heard a guy running up behind me. I looked behind me and saw the guy who whistled running up on me. I began running and he yelled, "Hey, I want to talk to you!" I screamed, "I don't want to talk to you!"
The guy whom the first guy whistled was running after me acrosss the street. Two other guys ran up from the bushes in front of me on either side of the street. I cut across the corner to run onto the cross street and got jumped in the middle of the street. They caught me in the middle of the street with something heavy and hard- the back of a gun, I think_ and threw to the ground. I wrestled aroung with them as they went through my front pockets and yanked away my book bag. One of the guys pulled out a gun and pointed it at me and screamed "stop moving!"
Iris began screaming out of her window that she was calling the cops. The guys then took off. I was lying on the ground on some trolley tracks and was still clutching the strap that had torn off the bookbag. My hands were covered with blood and my shirt and jacket were wet with it. I was really dizzy and disoriented. I could get off the ground the first few times I tried. I rolled over and saw my new little dice bag- a mock Chinese take-out container that was a vinyl bag with a zipper- on the asphault. I grabbed it and some bills that were on the road. I lurched forward with a left hip that was totally useless. I got to the door and rang the bell. Iris answered the door and said , "Oh my god!" She helped me up the steps and told me that she had called the police even though she didn't know that I was the guy getting mugged until I was at the door. She called the police again and told them that she knew the guy who had gotten mugged.
Two cops showed up shortly afterwards and helped me walk down to the stairs just above the first floor. They called the rescue squad and then said, "Hey, there's a chair down here for the guy." Iris' evil neighbor came out immediately and snapped, "That's my chair! That's my chair!"
I told the cops that I was fine on the stairs. The cops took my information. The rescue squad arrived and Iris rode in the ambulance to the hospital. I was put into a triage room and stripped. The EMTs cleaned me off with saline solution. My mouth was checked outa dn they took my vitals. I was given morphine for the pain. The back of my head was all cut up, the right side of my jaw was swelling, and I had a cut over my right eyebrow. My ribs on my left side hurt, but the worst thing was that my left hip hurt so much I could hardly move without pain.

Sheesh! This makes what happened to me last summer seem like nothing.

Dude, I got to give you props for putting up a fight. Nice.

Syrinx,
What street intersection was this at?

48th and Chester and only at 10 at night.

Syrinx,
Maybe it's time for you to move or something. Okay, I say that in jest, but it seems like you or people you know experience these things way more often than the norm--what is this, the 3rd, 4th, 5th time you've posted a report of a robbery/beating happening to you, a friend, or a friend-of-a-friend? I'm not saying they didn't happen (I have no idea), that such incidents aren't terrible (of course they are), or that they shouldn't be reported when the occur (of course they should); I'm just saying bad luck seems to be following your circle of friends, because over the same time period neither myself nor anyone I know have had these sorts of problems. I don't know what could explain a disparity like that--maybe it's just luck of the draw--but the difference is striking.

Here's hoping that you and your friends stay safe and have better luck in the future.

P.S. I really was kidding about the moving thing.

__________________
When life throws pies at you, make yourself a tall, cool glass of piemonade!

To be clear the bottom half of that post was from a mutual friend of ours' myspace page who was the victim of the mugging - not Syrinx. This is a really serious violent incident and gives me great pause. The victim is friend of mine, kind of big guy and definitely street savy. He works indirectly in the prison/sentencing field with cons regularly and was once incarcerated himself many, many years ago on minor drug charges as fresh-faced young college student. He actually has some great stories about serving time in the same federal corrections facility as Mayor Marion Barry if you ever meet him. He's not a clueless Penn undergrad. If he could be victim of an attack like this at 48th and Chester - we all could.

OK I will admit that in real life Syrinx has a propensity to collect crime stories but this one was really scary.

Wow, 48th/Chester...thats like right near me...I hope some of these people will try to do something this to me...they will regret it

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to alert my Southwest Philly neighbors to a mugging at 47th and Hazel at about 10 pm on Tuesday, May 9. An older man was mugged (apparently, it's not the first time it's happened, on the same block) and I caught a glimpse of the mugger running away - tall, slim, black male with baggy jeans and a white t-shirt. No weapon of note, no hat, short hair/shaved head. He was about 5'11-6'1.

(I called the police and they responded pretty quickly.)

Please, everyone, be vigilant, befriend your neighbors, and call the police about anything suspicious.

Thanks!