By Bill Griffin
The headlines tell us crime is down.
For many victims, it does not feel that way.
Imagine having your car stolen, coming home to find your house broken into or being robbed brutally while walking through your own neighborhood.
Now imagine someone telling you that crime is down. One might wonder whether that is true or whether the District Attorney’s Office is downgrading criminal offenses so we do not get a true picture of crime in Philadelphia.
For victims of crime, that statistic does not erase what happened. It does not restore their sense of safety. It does not change the fear they have every time they leave their home.
That is why I pay close attention to the recent headlines reporting that crime is down in Philadelphia.
Any crime reduction is welcome news. Philadelphia has made significant progress reducing homicides over the past several years, and everyone who helped make that happen deserves our gratitude. The men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department have worked tirelessly under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Every homicide prevented is a life saved, a family spared unimaginable grief and another step toward making our city safer. They deserve our thanks and our continued support.
But good public policy requires looking beyond the headline.
The question is not simply whether crime is down. The question is: Down compared to what?
When I reviewed crime statistics for Northeast Philadelphia’s 8th and 15th police districts, I found a fuller story.
If we compare today’s numbers to the extraordinary crime surge from 2021 to 2023, many categories have improved.
However, if we compare those same crimes to 2020, before the crime surge began, the picture changes.
In the 15th Police District, reported auto thefts increased from 292 in 2020 to 2,197 in 2023 before declining to 1,380 in 2025. That is meaningful progress since 2023, but it is still nearly five times higher than it was in 2020.
The 8th Police District tells a similar story. Auto thefts rose from 59 in 2020 to 849 in 2023, before declining to 687 in 2025. Again, the numbers have improved since 2023, but they remain dramatically higher than they were before the crime surge.
Those numbers explain something I hear every day while knocking on doors throughout Northeast Philadelphia.
Residents are not comparing today’s crime to 2023. They are comparing it to the neighborhoods they remember before the crime surge began and to the neighborhoods where they raised their families, walked to church, visited local businesses and felt comfortable letting their children play outside.
They tell me about stolen cars, home break-ins, robberies, assaults and neighborhoods that no longer feel as safe as they once did.
Recently, I spoke with a father whose son was murdered many years ago. Although the person responsible remains in prison, the family is now facing another appeal. As he spoke, it became clear that while time had passed, the pain had not.
Crime leaves scars that statistics cannot erase.
Crime is more than numbers on a chart. Every crime has a victim. Every victim has a family. And every victim deserves to know that protecting innocent people remains the government’s first responsibility.
Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania House considered House Bill 1042, a sweeping criminal justice bill that, among other provisions, created new opportunities for certain incarcerated individuals to earn credits toward earlier parole eligibility through approved educational and vocational programs. The legislation also made significant changes involving second-degree murder sentencing and parole while expanding victim notification and participation provisions.
My opponent, Rep. Pat Gallagher, voted in favor of House Bill 1042. Afterward, he told constituents that one reason for his vote was to “keep Larry Krasner from having more power.” If that is his position, it is fair to ask why, in April 2024, he voted against an amendment that would have directed a task force to conduct a comprehensive study of the investigation, prosecution and sentencing of retail theft cases in Pennsylvania since 2018.
During the April 9, 2024 House debate, Rep. Kristin Marcell, the amendment’s author, stated: “Instead of charging retail theft as a misdemeanor of the first degree, which carries a maximum possible penalty of 5 years’ incarceration, D.A. Krasner has instituted a policy that required his prosecutors to charge retail theft as a summary offense, which is the equivalent of a traffic ticket.”
Rep. Gallagher voted against Marcell’s amendment.
At a minimum, the people of Northeast Philadelphia deserve an explanation of how those two positions fit together.
House Bill 1042 itself tells a more complete story. In addition to the other criminal justice changes it made, Bill 1042 created new opportunities for certain incarcerated individuals to earn credits toward earlier parole eligibility.
My priorities differ from Rep. Gallagher’s.
After speaking with thousands of residents throughout the 173rd District from Mayfair and Tacony to Holmesburg, Torresdale, Pennypack, Lexington Park, Winchester Park and Sandyford Park, I have never heard anyone tell me that Harrisburg’s priority should be creating new opportunities for earlier parole eligibility. Instead, I hear parents asking for safer streets, senior citizens worried about walking through their neighborhoods, business owners concerned about theft and crime victims who simply want to know their government stands firmly with them.
Philadelphia has made real progress reducing crime, and we should continue supporting the strategies that are working. But we should not confuse a modest decrease in crime from the extraordinarily high levels of 2021 through 2023 with achieving the real goal: safe neighborhoods and a good quality of life for the people who live, work and raise their families here.
Statistics matter. They help us measure progress, and Philadelphians should be encouraged by the significant reduction in homicides and declines in several other categories of violent crime. But statistics alone cannot tell a mother whether she feels safe letting her child play outside, a senior citizen whether it is safe to walk to the store or a victim whether the fear from a robbery has finally faded.
The people I meet while knocking on doors are not asking for statistics. They ask for safe neighborhoods. They ask for a government that puts victims first and confronts crime with the seriousness it deserves.
Those are the priorities I will take with me to Harrisburg. ••
Bill Griffin is a retired Philadelphia public school principal and candidate in the 173rd Legislative District in Northeast Philadelphia. After more than 35 years in education as a special education teacher, administrator and school principal, Griffin is running to bring new leadership to Northeast Philadelphia. His priorities include confronting crime, improving education, supporting law enforcement and making Pennsylvania more affordable for working families and senior citizens. Visit ElectBillGriffin.com or follow at facebook.com/ElectBillGriffin
