Democratic Mayoral Candidate Rebecca Rhynhart Announces Public Safety Agenda

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 7, 2023

Philadelphia, PA – Democratic Mayoral Candidate Rebecca Rhynhart announced her plans for addressing public safety in Philadelphia, in particular the city’s alarmingly high rates of gun violence. On her website, Rhynhart laid out the long and short-term strategies that as mayor she would implement to improve public safety.

“In our city, we have had three years of close to or above 500 homicides. This is double the rate of homicides that we had less than 10 years ago. This is unacceptable,” Rhynhart said. “As Mayor, I will take immediate decisive action to stop the violence and create safety in all of our neighborhoods.”

Rhynhart’s strategies to improve public safety and reduce gun violence in Philadelphia include the following:

• Declare a city-wide emergency: Rhynhart will immediately sign an executive order activating the emergency operations center to tackle gun violence. This order will direct operating departments to coordinate resources and services with a specific focus on the 14 zip codes out of 40 experiencing the highest levels of gun violence.

• Implement and fully fund proven intervention strategies: The Rhynhart Administration will implement intervention strategies with a track record of success in other cities that reach the people most at risk of shooting or being shot and offer them a way out of the lifestyle with mentorship, therapy, job training and employment, working with anti-violence leaders that have been successful in our communities.

• Get illegal firearms off our streets: Most shootings in Philadelphia are perpetrated with illegal firearms. The Rhynhart Administration will aggressively pursue individuals who traffic illegal firearms, working with law enforcement partners. Recently, Philadelphia Police have been arresting more people for carrying illegal guns, but prosecutions have not kept pace. As Mayor, Rhynhart will bring together the Police, District Attorney and the Courts to review illegal firearm cases and ensure all these entities are working together to prosecute those responsible.

• Address lawlessness while progressing with criminal justice reform: Make a course correction to the 2016 executive order on disorderly conduct so that police may arrest individuals to prevent escalations that may lead to violence. In advance of this change, the Rhynhart Administration will ensure there is proper training in place for police officers and implement robust diversionary programs and thorough reviews of disorderly conduct arrests.

• Implement needed changes to policing: While serving as Controller, Rhynhart’s office conducted an audit of the police department and made recommendations to improve policing in our city. Mayor Rhynhart will implement these changes, including moving officers from desk work to patrol so that there are more officers available, implementing community-first policing and addressing disparity in 911 response time by neighborhood.

• Invest in our neighborhoods and residents: Make long-term investments in our neighborhoods and residents most affected by gun violence. Gun violence in Philadelphia is unquestionably an issue of racial justice. The neighborhoods most affected by violence are the same that have experienced historical disinvestment. The Rhynhart Administration will invest in these neighborhoods to improve the schools, provide localized job training, and create pathways to good jobs with family-sustaining wages.

“Every resident of Philadelphia deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood and all of us deserve the peace of mind that our loved ones will come home safe at night. That’s why as Mayor, public safety will be my number one priority.” Rhynhart said.

You can read the plan in its entirety at rebeccaforphiladelphia.com/public-safety.