The press conference followed what’s become a popular script for large metros under Democratic control experiencing skyrocketing violent crime rates: Put some guns on a table ringed by the department’s top brass, give the mission a name — in this case “Operation Priority Takedown” — and tell the public how much safer they are now that all these deadly weapons are off the streets.
“These are very high-powered artillery weapons, and this is why this city keeps fighting for gun control,” Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal told the media yesterday. “Why are these type of weapons in our city? No war is going on. Why? We want to find out how they’re bringing these guns in so we can stop that.”
The good sheriff’s special op originally targeted 176 people with outstanding warrants out for their arrest — misdemeanor and felony warrants.
The sheriff’s deputies found 37. The rest weren’t home.
“Thirty-seven is better than zero. One gun is better than none,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer at the city’s Family Court building in Center City.
Sheriff Bilal was flanked by local, state and federal law enforcement officials as she announced the “success” of her op.
What kind of “high-powered artillery weapons” did the operation yield?
The lawmen recovered an AR, a shotgun, two 9mm handguns and some ammo.
They also found 87 pot plants, which they claimed had a street value of $400,000.
To be clear, Philadelphia is bleeding. This year alone there have been 305 homicides — a 33% increase over 2020 — and more than 1,000 people have been wounded by gunfire, yet the sheriff is celebrating and high-fiving her staff over some pot plants and far less “high-powered artillery” than most of us have in our safes.
Meanwhile, her constituents continue to die.
Warrant roundups are ineffective eye-wash for the media designed to make it look like police are getting tough on crime. They don’t work — the guns one the table prove that. Law enforcement should start focusing on tactics that will produce results, such as targeting the gangsters who are actually killing people. Unfortunately, targeting gang members or drug crews requires support from city hall, which is lacking in Philly and most other Democratic-run cities.
That’s why cops go for low-hanging fruit like a warrant roundup. It puts some evidence on the table so the media can ooh and ahh and tell their readers how fortunate they are to live in a city policed and administered by such heroes, but nothing really changes.
The gangsters continue their drug sales. The police get a few good headlines, which makes life easier for awhile and gets city hall off their back, but the public loses. Crime continues unabated.
Until these big metros target the real criminals and prosecutors hold them accountable with stiff sentences, nothing will change and the killings will continue.
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