Frankford Gazette

From the Daily News today:

A retired Philadelphia cop working as a pizza deliveryman fatally shot a 14-year-old boy who was pointing a gun at him during an attempted robbery yesterday morning in Frankford, police said.

…the 14-year-old and two other suspects were trying to rob the ex-officer at gunpoint while he was delivering a pizza about 1:15 a.m. on Lesher Street near Bridge, police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said.

The boy pointed the gun at the former cop while his cohorts — also believed to be teenagers — attempted to go through the victim’s pockets, Vanore said.

But the deliveryman — whose name was withheld by police — was able to reach into a pocket and pull out a semiautomatic Glock, which he had a permit to carry, Vanore said.

The deliveryman shot the gun-wielding boy once in the chest, and the boy was pronounced dead at 2:14 a.m. at Temple University Hospital, police said. His identity was not released pending notification of his family and the identification of his alleged accomplices.

It’s never a great thing to take a life, even when you are justified as this case seems to be.  But these kids have taken the wrong path and maybe some other stupid kid will realize that now.  When they take up the path of violence, it leads to death. 

There will be some who will be second guessing the ex-cop.  When somebody points a gun at you, they give up the right to a second chance.  Cops know that.  Read the rest of the story here.

With all the crime news lately, it does bring to mind the folks who are working on our side.  The West Frankford Town Watch is looking for new members.  I got this email this afternoon:

  HELLO

  LET US INTRODUCE OURSELVES

 

*** WHO ARE WE?

WE ARE THE WEST FRANKFORD TOWNWATCH. WE HAVE SERVED THE WEST FRANKFORD COMMUNITY FOR 5 YEARS.  WE ARE LOOKING FOR NEW MEMBERS. WE PATROL  EVERY FRIDAY AND SOME SATURDAY NIGHTS. WE COVER ALL OF UPPER FRANKFORD, NORTH WOOD, MAYFAIR, AND PARTS OF WISSINOMING.

 

*** WHAT DO WE DO?

WE ARE THE EYES AND EARS OF THE POLICE. WE PATROL THE COMMUNITY BY CAR, FOOT AND ON BIKE. WE LOOK FOR POSSIBLE TROUBLE SPOTS, CHECK FOR BROKEN TRAFFIC LIGHTS, AND REPORT UNSAFE AND DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD SITUATIONS. IN ADDITION, REPORT ABANDONED AUTOS. IN ADDITION, RESPOND TO CALLS ALONG WITH THE POLICE THAT COME OVER THE POLICE SCANNER. BASICALLY, WE TRY TO MAINTAIN THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN OUR COMMUITY.

  

WHAT ARE SOME OF OUR OTHER ACTIVITIES?

WE WORK AS SECURITY AND TRAFFIC CONTROL AT MANY OF OUR COMMUNITY EVENTS, FIRES AND AUTO ACCIDENTS. WE ALSO PATROL AROUND THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL AND GRADE SCHOOL’S DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR WHILE SCHOOL IS IN LOOKING FOR GROUPS OF STUDENT’S THAT ARE EITHER CUTTING OR DON’T BELONG THERE.

 

WHAT ELSE HAPPENS?

WE HAVE A LUNCHEON ONCE A YEAR FOR THE OFFICERS THAT WE PATROL WITH TO SHOW THEM YOUR THANKS FOR KEEPING OUR COMMUNITY SAFE.

WE ALSO WORK WITH OTHER COMMUNITY GROUPS TO TRY AND ADDRESS THEIR TROUBLE SPOTS WITHIN THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES.

 

                                    **** WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP? ***

 WE NEED YOUR DONATIONS TO HELP KEEP OUR TOWNWATCH GROWING AND ACTIVE. ANYTHING YOU CAN GIVE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.

REMEMBER, WE ARE ALL VOLUNTEERS AND ALL DONATIONS ARE USED ONLY FOR THE TOWNWATCH OFFICIAL ACTIVITIES

 

 

REMEMBER ONLY YOU CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

WEST FRANKFORD TOWNWATCH

NEIGHBORS HELP NEIGHBORS

WEST FRANKFORD TOWNWATCH

2117 BRIDGE STREET

PHILA.PA .19124

CONTACT EITHER          

MIKE @215-284-6823 OR LORIE P@215-284-5863

If you can spare the time, this is a way to make a difference for the community.

I haven’t addressed this issue before today because the media has managed to give this enough publicity.  I have been looking at crime statistics in detail since the PPD has been kind enough to put this information out on the web on a timely basis. 

What started my interest was that the crime log published in the Northeast Times does not include rape or murder.  Well, we all hear about the murders.  “If it bleeds, it leads” is a real policy on our local news.  On the other hand if you happen to meet a rapist on the street one morning, it may very well go unreported in the media.  I really can’t tell you why that is. 

The PPD slices and dices the crime stats and has a system of classification that pretty well tells the story.  Rape is subdivided into several goups.  First it can be rape or attempted rape.  Then it can be domestic.  No I don’t know what that means.  Then it can be done by an acquaintance or a stranger.  They are all pretty bad but the rape by a stranger seems to be the mose henious.  That is the type or crime now being reported.  So far this year, there have been 25 rapes or attempts committed by strangers in the 15th District.

The serial rapist accounts for 8 of those.  It seems that to get any attention as a rapist, you have to go into high gear.  There was no outcry over the other 16 rapes so far this year.  Whoe committed them, were they caught, did they go to trial, where are they now?

There other thing that bothers me is, while we now can get some pretty good information on crime, we get squat on arrests and less on convictions.  We got a part of the picture of the problem but nothing on the solution end.

Crime is fairly simple.  It has always existed and always will.  The issue is where and what will be tolerated.  How will we arrest and deal with the criminals.  How long will we let this continue in Frankford before we have to take action.  What are our elected officials doing to address the issues.  They are very busy trying to make believe that it does not involve them at all. 

This is a map of the locations and some details of the events.