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Philadelphia DA walks back comments saying city has no 'crime' crisis after former mayor calls him out
Fox News
The Philadelphia District Attorney is walking back comments made earlier in the week when he claimed that the city does not have a crime problem despite homicides reaching a record number in 2021.
"We don’t have a crisis of lawlessness, we don’t have a crisis of crime, we don’t have a crisis of violence," the district attorney told reporters at a Monday press conference. "It’s important that we don’t let this become mushy and bleed into the notion that there is some kind of big spike in crime. There isn't. There is not a big spike in crime.… There is not a big spike in violent crime. Neither one of these things is true."
In 2021 so far, the Philadelphia Police Department has reported 521 homicides, which is a 13% increase compared to 2020 as well as the city's highest total killings since at least 2007. Incidents involving a shooting have also increased by 4.4%, and the number of people who are victims of a shooting has risen by almost 3% over the past year.