DV Journal

Delaware County state Rep. Craig Williams (R-Chadds Ford) says Attorney General Josh Shapiro has been a no-show in the fight against Philadelphia’s surging violent crime, and he says that needs to change.

“Attorney General Josh Shapiro has routinely blamed the General Assembly for violence in Philadelphia,” Williams said during a press conference outside the Attorney General’s Office. “Yet when given authority to prosecute gun crime in Philadelphia, he said expressly he would not use it. We intend to give him another chance to pitch into the fight.”

In 2021, Philadelphia recorded 562 homicides and 2,332 shootings. The highest previous year was 500 homicides in 1990. And the murder rate in 2022 is already on pace to eclipse last year’s record high. Additionally, gunpoint carjackings have nearly tripled since 2019, with more than 100 already in 2022. Even a congresswoman was a carjacking victim.

Hoping to make a dent in gun crimes, Williams joined with state Rep. Martina White (R-Philadelphia) to extend a two-year pilot program giving Shapiro jurisdiction to enforce gun crime laws. In 2019, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law (Act 58) giving the attorney general the authority to investigate and charge certain gun crimes in Philadelphia.

White said during a Tuesday press conference outside the Attorney General’s Office, unfortunately, Shapiro has yet to use the law a single time to get a criminal off Pennsylvania streets.

“Even though the murder rate in Philadelphia rose to record levels, Attorney General Josh Shapiro refused to use this new tool to help us fight crime in Philadelphia,” White said. “Nonetheless, we’re extending the law to give Shapiro a second chance to do what is right as gun crime continues to rise. It’s clear the state must step in to protect the people of Philadelphia from their irresponsible district attorney, Larry Krasner, and that person is the attorney general of Pennsylvania.”

Republicans argue Shapiro needs to step up because of District Attorney Larry Krasner’s extreme progressive policies.

“Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is an ineffective prosecutor, who has refused to fully prosecute many offenses,” White said. “What is of grave concern though, is his refusal to prosecute our state’s most serious crimes, which he has left a trail of murder victims and devastated communities. Our brave law enforcement officers are out there every day doing absolutely everything that they can to arrest these criminals and protect our communities.

“As state officials, we have a responsibility to oversee public safety in our cities and counties. When local officials refuse to act, we must,” she said.

Williams, a former federal prosecutor, said $1.5 million in funding he secured to hire more gun prosecutors in Philadelphia and Delaware Counties, has now come online. The money will flow to the Project Safe Neighborhoods program, which deputizes those local prosecutors as federal prosecutors, who will bring the weight of federal statutes on felons who are not permitted to have a gun. Federal sentences are longer and there is no probation, he noted.

Shapiro rejected the proposal as mere partisanship.

In the meantime, the Gun Violence Task Force, with cross-designated prosecutors, has prosecuted four cases in 2019, 24 in 2020, and 38 in 2021, the Attorney General’s Office said.  There were 571 ghost guns recovered in Philadelphia in 2021, up 128 percent from 2020 and up 489 percent from 2019. Ghost guns are weapons that are homemade and untraceable. Nearly 10 percent of firearms found by the Philadelphia Police Department are ghost guns.

Shapiro noted he has Strategic Response teams in place, working with the Philadelphia police,  in West Philadelphia and Kensington.

Krasner spokeswoman Jane Roh did not respond to Delaware Valley Journal’s request for comment. However, she told PennLive that White and Williams’ news conference was a “comically timed stunt” held on the same day the Republican majority in the state Senate was scheduled to vote on a bill to block Philadelphia and other local governments from “enacting life-saving gun restrictions because these same lawmakers will not.”

However, White and Williams said they are giving the attorney general another chance to buy into Act 58 in the wake of the record number of homicides in the city.

“So, we’re putting the ball on a tee for him again,” said Williams.

“When there is no cooperation, people lose their lives,” White said. “That’s why we must extend this law and demand Attorney General Josh Shapiro prosecute the law the way District Attorney Larry Krasner will not. Lives depend on it.”

Meanwhile, Delaware County DA Jack Stollsteimer is cooperating with state officials.

He “welcomes any and every resource to stop gun violence in Delaware County. Our office was only notified that grant funding for this program was available in the last week; we have however, immediately taken steps to seek County Council’s approval to accept the grant at its first meeting in February. It’s important to note that while adding several federal prosecutors to the US Attorney’s Office to handle gun cases will no doubt affect the problem of gun violence in our region, it is no panacea.  For example, (the DA) has already instituted, without federal resources, a focused deterrence strategy in the City of Chester that has led to a 44 percent reduction in incidents of gun violence during 2021,” said Maggie McAboy, a spokeswoman.

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In an effort to deal with the epidemic of gun violence in Philadelphia that has spilled over into Delaware County, state Rep. Craig Williams sought and obtained state funding to hire additional prosecutors for those jurisdictions.

Williams (R-Chadds Ford) recently announced that $1.5 million would be set aside in the new state budget to hire additional prosecutors for the district attorney’s offices in Delaware and Philadelphia Counties.

The new prosecutors would be assigned as special assistant United States attorneys (SAUSAs), who work directly with the U.S. Department of Justice and United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and they would be solely focused on prosecuting gun crimes in Philadelphia through Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).

PSN was established by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001 to improve neighborhood safety through a sustained reduction in violent crime. Supporters say prosecution of gun crimes through the federal program has proven to be an effective tool decreasing gun crimes in PSN cities by 10.5 percent since its implementation.

“I have served as an assistant United States attorney in both the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of Colorado, where I prosecuted PSN cases in both jurisdictions,” Williams said in a statement.

Williams also sent letters to both Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, informing them of the extra money in the budget.

In terms of violent gun crime, there have been 1,504 nonfatal and 380 fatal shootings in Philadelphia this year alone. The only day someone wasn’t shot in Philadelphia this year was January 2. There have been 443 homicides in total this year, which is a 14 percent increase over this time last year. Arrest percentages for homicides and nonfatal shootings are up too, by 2 percent and 34 percent respectively.

For those who are arrested, prosecutions are up by 16 percent for homicides and 43 percent for nonfatal shootings. When it comes to case outcomes, however, that’s when things start to take a turn for the worse. Sixty-four percent more cases were withdrawn before they even went to trial or were dismissed . Acquittals are down by 12 percent, and guilty pleas and verdicts are both down too, by 11 percent and 24 percent respectively.

Williams hopes that by hiring more prosecutors, more cases will be able to go to trial, and more guilty pleas and verdicts will follow.

“Many people do not know that it is already a federal crime for a prior-convicted felon to possess a firearm or ammunition. Federal prosecution of prior-convicted felons in possession of firearms is an extremely effective tool in fighting gun violence,” Williams said.

This year, there has been a 27 percent increase in arrests for illegal firearm possession, and a 31 percent increase in illegal firearms cases charged. Like violent gun crimes cases, illegal firearms possession arrests haven’t resulted in corresponding convictions. Some 40 percent of those cases were withdrawn or dismissed, and guilty pleas and verdicts were down 26 percent and 33 percent respectively.

“It is my sincerest hope that the district attorneys will seize this moment of collaboration,” said Williams. “At a time when Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announces that Philadelphia will receive federal assistance from the Department of Justice through the Public Safety Partnership program, when District Attorney Krasner is asking Philadelphia City Council for more funding for police and prosecutors for a backlog of cases, and when all federal agencies in Philadelphia have announced their ‘All Hands on Deck’ initiative to combat violent crime in the city, I hope this funding will be viewed and used as an added tool and partnership in getting violent criminals off our streets and making our communities safer.”