As Philly Hits 450 Murders, New Outlaw Chief Promotes Family Feud

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Over a bloody 48-hour period that included Thanksgiving, Philadelphia had 20 shootings, including 9 murders. 

The city's body count now stands at 450 homicides, the highest in 30 years.

With a month to go, at its current pace, the city could break its all-time record of 497 homicides set back in 1990. This year's homicide count represents a nearly 40 percent jump over last year, when there were only 356 murders.

Philadelphia's number of homicides is higher than that of New York City, which has five times the population, and only 416 murders so far this year. Philadelphia's homicide count is also higher than that of Los Angeles, which has 2 1/2 times the population of Philadelphia, but only 300 murders. The honor of having the highest homicide count in the country, however, still belongs to Chicago, which has more than 1 million more residents than Philadelphia, and a grand total of 716 murders so far this year. 

Meanwhile, with all the dead bodies piling up in Philadelphia, what was newly promoted Chief Inspector Altovise Love-Craighead concerned about? The leader of the Police Department's Community Relations Bureau sent out an email to more than 7,500 sworn officers and civilian personnel, advertising an upcoming "Audition for Family Feud! You could win up to $100,000 and a brand new car!"

"It was embarrassing to say the least," one senior commander said. "The entire department is laughing."

But perhaps the new chief inspector was playing to her boss's known love for game shows. Back in 1996, when she was a sociology major at the University of San Francisco, the future police commissioner, then known as Danielle Bowman, won $40,000 on Wheel of Fortune.

Altovise Love-Craighead has just been promoted by Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw to chief inspector. Since Love-Craighead is now a chief, the Police Department's Community Relations Division, which had been a "Division" since the mid 1980s, was also recently upgraded to "Bureau" status.

It's dynamic changes like that that should make everybody in town feel safer since Mayor Kenney decided to hire new Police Commissioner Outlaw, at $285,000 a year. Thank you, Mayor Kenney, for making such a wise choice.

In case you're wondering why the city's murder rate is so high, there's a simple answer that has so far eluded the collective wisdom of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the city's other media outlets -- the progressive policies of District Attorney Larry Krasner. When it comes to gun arrests, Krasner gives out lenient sentences to everyone caught carrying an illegal gun in Philadelphia.

Here's some anecdotal evidence to prove it. As previously reported, Big Trial tracked the D.A.'s handling of 236 arrests for carrying illegal guns for just one month, in July 2019. As of March 16th, when the courts were closed in Philadelphia, 66 of those gun cases from July 2019, or nearly 28 percent, had either been dropped, dismissed or lost by the D.A.'s office.

Of those 236 gun cases, only 37 defendants, or 15.6 percent, had been found guilty. And all 37 were the result of plea bargains where every defendant got a sentence well below state sentencing guidelines for gun crimes. Of the 37 plea bargains, 17 defendants either got parole and walked immediately, or they got credit for time served and walked immediately.

That's why so many armed and dangerous criminals are presently shooting it out on the streets of Philadelphia. We have a D.A. who gives everyone a break when they get arrested for a Violation of the Uniform Firearms Act [VUFA].

A few more startling statistics capture the stunning ineptitude of the Philly D.A.'s office under Krasner: Of those 236 gun cases from July of 2019, not a single case to date has resulted in a defendant being convicted by a judge or jury of being guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Of those 236 gun cases, only two cases ever made it to trial, and the D.A.'s office lost both cases.

Cops, of course, continue to connect the dots between Krasner's leniency for criminals arrested on gun charges and the carnage in the streets. As Inspector Derrick Wood, commanding officer of the Southwest Police Division, tweeted yesterday: 

"In past 24 hours in Philly, a man out on bail for a VUFA killed someone, another man out on bail for VUFA has been shot and another man on probation for VUFA was arrested for shooting himself. I have more examples but I’ll stop for now. This is ridiculous. Consequences matter."

Moments later, Captain Matthew Gillespie, commanding officer of the 18th Police District, chimed in on Twitter:

"Let's not forget to add, the one male shot is in our custody now for having his own gun! He has prior gun arrests & never should of been out as we said over & over! Out on bail isn't working for some individuals. Consequences matter!"

Yes, there are consequences for letting armed and dangerous criminals out on the street -- more shootings, and more murders. And more innocents caught in the crossfire.

But for District Attorney Larry Krasner, so far, there have been no consequences for what he's inflicted on his fellow citizens. 

The D.A. continues to blame poverty, drugs, unemployment, and whatever else he can think of, to escape the blame for the deadly consequences of his own policies and actions.

The media, led by The Philadelphia Inquirer, continues to let him get away with it.

And the citizens haven't revolted yet.

But the killings won't stop. As of 7:39 a.m. today, the city had racked up two more murders. That brings this year's body count to 452 homicides.