200!

Death-o-Meter keep on turning . . . A quadruple shooting at an Olney playground last night pushed the homicide tally to 200 for the year, leaving distressed residents and even the city's top cop beside themselves. 200? We're number one! We're number one! The shooting was preceded by a typical heated summertime routine - two groups of young guys arguing over a girl. She had better be one great piece o' ass. Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson held an impromptu news conference outside the recreation center last night as crime-scene investigators carefully combed the playground for bullet shell casings and other evidence. "This is another example of gun violence in Philadelphia," said Johnson, looking worn from dashing from community meetings to the latest murder scene. Really, Boss? A homicide is another example of gun violence? This from the man who said the posters at Domelights - of which I am one - are "the most idiotic people in the world." Physician, heal thyself. Johnson said 89 percent of the city's 200 homicides have been committed with handguns, including the 199th of the year - a body was found with two gunshot wounds in the woods in Crescentville on Monday night. "If these legislators don't realize we have a gun problem here, something's wrong," he said. Because everyone knows that if we make handguns illegal, the criminals will NEVER get their hands on them, right? Imbecile. The commissioner bristled when a reporter asked what he and Mayor Street were doing to combat the ever-rising wave of murders. "We're not out here shooting people. They're shooting each other," he said. "We leave office January 6. If you think homicides will stop, then you're unrealistic." Um, am I crazy, or did he not answer the question? And therein lies the problem. The Mayor and the Police Commissioner are doing very little to really stop gun violence in Philadelphia. Sure, they are making speeches and shuffling around police personnel, but they aren't making any significant changes that can curtail the violence. What have they done so far? 1. They took district commanders out of their offices and put them in patrol. 2. They took administrative officers out of their cushy offices and put them in patrol, for yet another "police presence" on the streets. Look, when you take someone who has been behind a desk for half their career and put them in patrol for the summer, who is that helping? No one. They don't want to be there, so they're not going to be stopping cars and rushing to priority jobs. But, when the media asks, the brass can say, "We've increased the amount of officers on the streets!" It's a shell game. It is very difficult to stop homicides before they happen. Of course, when the city is more concerned with pushing the Boy Scouts out of their home because they're "discriminatory," and thus, leaving thousands of youths without a place to go, they are reaping what they sow. At this rate, Philadelphia will easily eclipse last year's homicide total of 406.