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July 20, 2023 • 42 mins
Welcome to "The Republican Zone" with Drew Murray! In this exclusive YouTube interview, join us as we sit down with Philadelphia Mayoral Candidate, David Oh. Get ready to delve into the vision and strategies that David Oh brings to the table, as he outlines his plans to uplift Philadelphia and address its pressing issues.
As a seasoned political figure, David Oh offers a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective on how to make Philadelphia a better place for its residents. From economic growth and job creation to tackling crime and enhancing public safety, David has a comprehensive roadmap to lead the city towards progress and prosperity.
Join us as we explore his innovative ideas for education reform, sustainable development, and building stronger communities. Discover his vision for inclusivity, social equality, and fostering a sense of unity among Philadelphians from all walks of life.
Be part of the conversation and witness firsthand the potential transformation that David Oh's leadership can bring to the city. Tune in to "The Republican Zone" for an engaging and insightful discussion that aims to empower and inform voters about the future of Philadelphia.
Subscribe now and stay tuned for this exciting interview as we uncover the promises and plans that David Oh has in store to improve Philadelphia and create a brighter future for all.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Republican Zone is brought to you byDrew Murray. Good afternoon. You're listening
to, or should say watching USLANmedia. This is the Republican Zone.
I am your host, Drew Murray, and I am here my good friend,
former councilman David Oh Meryll Kennedy.David Oh, So, thank you

(00:27):
for coming on my show. Iget the invitation. Drew will always have
a good conversation. Yes, so, so, I'm sure you're busy.
You're in the middle of a Merrillcampaign, as are you. We're both
busy. Yes, I'm in themiddle of a city council race and you
are in the middle of a Merrillrace. So what's happening over the summer.
I know on the city council sideit slows up a little bit,

(00:48):
but I imagine in a Merrill racethat's a little different. So what are
you doing over the summer to keepyourself busy? Which I know you're well
totally busy. Yeah, I'm busyevery day. I don't take a vacation.
I don't take a break. Youknow. Election day is November seventh.
Now, I lied because of mymother in law flew in from Korea,

(01:10):
so I have got to take orsomeplace. I will actually take two
days off, take my family someplacewith mom in law, and but outside
of that, I really don't Ithink what I do, Like right now,
there's a lot of like kind ofinfrastructure of the campaign that has to
be done, because you know,there's a real mismatch in terms of money,

(01:38):
organization and things like that, andso I would be the underdog in
that scenario. On the other hand, people are looking for a change,
They're looking for something very different thankind of like what's been going on in
the past, and I do representthat change. That's the whole grassroots type

(01:59):
of thing. The other thing isfocusing on solutions. It's one thing to
have an idea, best practices theory. It's another thing to actually find the
people that really have the underground expertiseand commitment and to bring them together,
those that can work together to beginto refine how you implement changes, who's

(02:28):
going to do it, how youfund it, and what is the like
the better way to do it.And actually I think a lot of that,
at least for me, I don'tknow about other people, stems from
kind of like your broad deeper perspectiveson life and things like that. So
what let's say we're talking about returningcitizens. We have over three hundred thousand

(02:53):
people that have been in prison livingin our city. And when they go
to prison, while they're in prison, many times, for example, they
have children, and so there couldnot possibly be engaged with their children the
way we would like them to be, you know, those that want to

(03:13):
be involved with their children. Butwhat is the barrier to them being engaged
with their children. In other words, let's say they committed a crime,
but they did not hurt their children, and while they are incarcerated, can
we maintain that relationship of you know, father to son, father to daughter,

(03:35):
you know, father to mother.Can we keep them part of the
family, part of the community,part of the neighborhood, because we do
want rehabilitation. Yeah, they're doingtheir time. That that is what the
judge said, that is what thejury said. But there will be there
will come a time for many ofthem where they're returning to the community.
And what they hope not to returnto is a dysfunctional family um with tragedy

(04:01):
and violence and things like that.So so in that situation, part of
what I'm talking about is a philosophyor a perspective on the on the wholeness
of the family and the importance ofthe family to the neighborhood and the neighborhood
to the community. So how willwe deal with violence? You know,

(04:21):
you know you can. You canput money into it, but money is
not going to solve the pain andthe hurt that oftentimes results in a lot
of the violence that we see.Um, restoration of the family is important.
Now for those who don't really believein family, UM, this is
not the kind of like what theywant to hear. But UM, I

(04:42):
look at it differently. I lookat it this way. You have a
community of a whole. Right,So you have your elders with their experience
and wisdom. You have let's say, the caretaker the mother. You have
provider the father. It could bereversed. The caretaker could be the father,

(05:03):
The provider could be the mother.You oftentimes in a village have um,
the artisans, the businesspeople, UM, the instructors, the teachers.
You have all of that. Youalso have the warriors. Now in our
society, we have decided that somethingis wrong with the warriors, and therefore

(05:27):
they have PTSD, they have badexperiences, they have violent pass and whether
they are someone from the streets ofPhiladelphia who's incarcerated or they're a veteran,
what do you mean by warrior someonewho's been engaged in the combat physical physical
military like military, or like gangmember or like violent personal, been engaged

(05:53):
in you know, the conflicts inthe combat um And I I think that
you know, kind of looking atthese people as being like people that should
be removed, because that's a verycommon thought, right In other words,
if you are someone who was involvedin violent crimes, you grew up in

(06:15):
a bad neighborhood. If you weresomeone who served in combat, you came
back kind of like damaged goods.And I think that presumes that they don't
have something to contribute. And Ithink they have a lot to contribute because
their experiences and their perspectives, evenif it's one of regret, I think

(06:42):
is important in sharing and they havea role. And if their contribution is
not available, then I think it'sartificial. What happens is young people will
experience conflicts, will experience dangers,will experience disappointments, and there's someone who's

(07:09):
been through all of that to kindof give their perspectives, and if they
are rehabilitating themselves, they have somethingto share. So I'm more of the
fact that if we take people thattheir acts there, if they're not a

(07:30):
danger to their children, which mostof them are not, the hard knocks
of life are important for them toshare. And I think that is why
we have a role in restoring familiesand restoring communities, and I believe that
is a critical part of addressing thewanton violence in our city. And is
this while they're incarcerated, You're sayingthat we should be working with them too,

(07:55):
to educate them to like, inother words, some sort of service.
Is that any whether they should notlose contact with their children even while
they're incarcerated, from zooming like azoom meeting, going over the homework with
their children, to talking them abouttheir their special project in school, to

(08:18):
kind of watching them as they watchplay played the piano or learn to play
the piano. I think, youknow, if they have that contribution or
to or to play a game ofchess with their children. You know,
obviously they can't do that twenty fourseven, But I do think those are
valuable things. And you know theissue as well, if you set up
something like that. Is there achance for someone who is ill minded to

(08:41):
take advantage of that situation to promotecrime criminal activity? Yes, yes it
is, But what is the goodof it? And I think that's where
we have to go. We haveto go in that direction. And I
think it's important that someone who whohas done wrong, who is now paying

(09:03):
the price, have something to lookforward to, have a redemption in their
life through for example, guiding theirchildren not to make the same mistakes and
then coming out having that bond.You know, we have seen time and
time again, no matter what thecircumstance is, no matter you know,
let's say the the issues about theparent, but that connection between the child

(09:31):
and a parent is very important tothe child. And if they have that
connection when they do go out,when they are when they leave prison,
when they're not no longer incarcerated,you would think at least that recidivism is
going to decrease and they're not goingto want to go back. But if
they lose that relationship, so nextif you have a transitional period where you

(09:56):
know, first of all, theyshould not have broken their bond with their
family, but if but if theyare transitioning out and easing back in,
making amends to the community, findinga job, you know, doing all
those things. It's more likely they'llcome back into a more stable, supportive,

(10:18):
loving situation where they have a contributionto make. If they have not
been connected to the community, atransitional period would help them to get their
things in order to get adjusted tothe idea of getting back in the community,
the neighborhood through through a process ofbeing acclimated back into the community,

(10:43):
re establishing connection, things like that. But my whole point to this very
long story, Drew is either youstart with the idea that that something about
that, that relationship and the rolesand duties that are involved in the relationship
is important to healing, giving purpose, and turning a bad situation into something

(11:09):
that is more positive and does notlead to another cycle of you know,
children who are angry, upset,frustrated, deprived of their family and more
likely to end up in a lifeof crime and a cycle of violence.
So let's get a little bit intoyou know, what happens before someone's incarcerated.

(11:31):
I know, when I'm on thecampaign trail, there's the top three
issues are crime, crime, andcrime. Yes, that's not what it
was like when we ran in twentynineteen. It was important, but you
know, we talked about the taxabatement, we talked about taxes in general,
we talked about education, and wedidn't talk about crime. But now
it's like, not that those issuesaren't important. Education is obviously extremely important,

(11:56):
but all people want to talk aboutis crime. And and that's crime
from as low as retail thefts toillegal ATVs and road bikes on the street
to unfortunately murder. You know.So it's the it's the whole gamut,
and that's every every every form I'vegone to, every event that I've gone
to, that is what people wantto talk about. So and I assume

(12:22):
you're hearing the same thing absolutely,and in addition to which every survey and
every pole um uh affirms what you'resaying that the crime, violent crime in
particular is the number one issue byit's not even close that the exact you
know that the next kind of priorityof importance to people is very small compared

(12:43):
to crust. And we're losing populationfor the first time. Yeah, we're
losing all kinds of people. Don'twant to be tourists, people don't want
to come back to work exactly inthe city of Philadelphia itself. Yeah,
well police officers were sure, almosta thousand police officers between hundred, but
across yeah, across the entire spectrumof municipal employees. Right, we're I

(13:05):
think it's one one in five.And it's because people don't want to come
to the city. They don't maybedon't want to live in the city.
Um. And a controversial topic thathas come up in the marriage race is
it's stopping frisk. It was somethingthat was done under under Mayor Nutter.
Under under Mayor Kenny, he stoppedit. Um. What are your thoughts

(13:28):
on on stopping frisk? Well,and you're an again, people don't know
you're a you're an attorney. Yeah, I'm a former prosecutor, and I'm
very I'm a very strong advocate forlaw enforcement enforcing the laws. Um and
UM, and I believe in thedeterrence effect of community policing things like that.

(13:50):
UM. Stopping frisk. It arisesunder circumstances is not something that can
be manufactured. What happens is ifI'm a police officer, I receive information,
for example, that the crime justoccurred and that someone with a red
jacket and blonde hair, six foottwo, white pants is running from the

(14:11):
scene, and I look over andthere's someone matching the description coming from very
close to that area, running inmy direction. So I can investigate.
In other words, I don't knowif that's the person, but the mass
a description. So I can stopthe person and I can engage in an
investigation. I cannot search them becausethere's no reason for me to do that.

(14:35):
It is when, however, Ihave a reasonable articulable suspicion that they
are armed and dangerous. So thenext thing is, in addition to the
description, this person, you know, six ft two, red jacket,
blonde hair, white pants and allthat had a nine millimeter semi automatic weapon.
Now, when I stop them,for my own protection as a as

(14:56):
a human beings, as a policeofficer, I can let them know I'm
investigating, let them know why Istop them, and let them know that
because the person it was reportedly armedand dangerous, I am going to conduct
a lawful pack down of your outher clothing to see if you are carrying

(15:16):
a weapon. If I do notfeel the butt of a gun or the
barrel of a gun or something thatcould be a weapon. I cannot go
further into search. Now. It'simportant because the police are the enforces of
the law. They are the enforcersof the constitution. They shall not break
the law in conducting you know whatthey're doing, because that would be contradictory

(15:39):
and it creates many, many problems. And that is the fear of abuse
of law enforcement. Right. Theones who are supposed to protect you and
your rights are abusing your rights.So what happens is when someone says,
as in this campaign, that they'regoing to bring back constitutional stop and risk

(16:00):
in that fashion, I would justsay it can't be done. But the
way but you just described sounds likeit would be stopping frisk, but it
would be allowable onder the constitution thatcircumstance. You just explain the way that
I explained it. That's constitutional stoppingfrisk. What is not a good idea,

(16:22):
and I think nothing but a violationallaw, is to send police officers
out with the intention of looking atpeople without one having information they were involved
in a crime. They're simply hangingout in the park and they want to
go home. Two, you don'thave any idea that they're armed and dangerous.
You can't just fabricate it. Justcan't say, like, you know,

(16:45):
this guy looks like he's arms,let me pat him down. That
would be a violation. The samething as I can't look at your house
and say, who's got a greendoor only drug dealers? Let me kick
that door in with no warrant,see what I find. And if I
happen to find drugs, you know, that doesn't mean it's okay what I
did right. In other words,that would be a violation of the constitution.
It is important that the people whoenforce the law do it objectively and

(17:11):
legally, do it lawfully, andthey do it with a coolness and a
calmness. They should not be doingthings with emotion, anger, suspicion,
prejudice, any of those type ofthings. And I simply tell you know,
for example, we're on the Republicanzone. We are not North Korea.
If you want to start as amayor having your police go out and

(17:33):
breaking the law, you will havea very incorrect type of police department.
You'll be a very wrong mayor,and the consequences of which is you'll have
an adverse situation between the people thatare supposed to be protected who the police
are serving and the officers themselves.Now, if they are conducting themselves in

(17:57):
that manner because that's what trained themto do and you instructed them to do
that, then you are training themand instructing them to do the wrong thing.
It will be very difficult to turnthat around once you've done it.
Now, the second thing is this, you don't have to do things like
that. I don't have to kickin people's door and look for drugs not

(18:18):
supposed to be found, just withevery other thing the city does. In
other words, it's not just thepolice, it's L and I, it's
the property assessments, it's the healthdepartment, you know, everything that the
city does, if it does notabide by the law, if it ends
up breaking the law for the greatergood, you know, let's say there's

(18:40):
a higher purpose there. Breaking thelaw, you know, is the wrong
thing for the city to do.Do you remember and if you don't,
because this was a long time agounder Mayor Nutter, he quote unquote allowed
stop and press or permitted it.Was it done legally then? Or was
the definition stop at first that thepolice officer were instructed to do. Was

(19:03):
it was it illegal? It wasillegal? It was illegal. Listen,
what happened is this, there's agood good intention. Right. There was
murders, and particularly in places likeWest Philly, it was black on black
for the most part, right,And so with the idea of let's stop
the murder, people were frustrated.You know, how come there's all these

(19:25):
murders. It's so dangerous. We'vegot to save lives. So the idea
was, let's send a police let'sflood the area with police, or let's
certainly put more police there. Andthe whole idea was, let's basically force
people to not be in the streets. Let's push people out from hanging out
where they're getting shot, you know, things like that. Now, now,

(19:48):
by the way, they do havea right to be there. And
so officers, usually from another policedistrict where there were not murders, typically
like the fifteenth Police District where Mayfairto Coney, places like that, where
they have quality of life crimes,they would take the officers, who are
typically white and send them to WestPhilly where the typically black population, with

(20:10):
the instructions to make sure that peoplearen't loitering, hanging around the streets all
that, and to move people along. They would basically stop in friscom.
You know, what are you doingout here? You know? And so
you'd be discouraged from hanging out ornot leaving because if you if you were
hanging out, you'd get stopped infrist if they told you to leave and

(20:30):
you said, well, I don'thave to leave, and actually you're correct,
and now you get stopped in fristright. So the thing is,
if they do find something, orif they don't find something, you're being
harassed. And it may seem convenientat the time, but two wrongs don't
make a right. And what we'vesuffered now is we have a very difficult

(20:53):
situation with communities that are very suspectabout the police. And we've had lawyers
and doctors, we've had educated peopletalking about how rotten the police are.
It's all stemming from that. Thepeople who are there to enforce the law,
to enforce your rights, to doso in a lawful, objective,

(21:15):
coal manner, should not be madeto be the villains. How will they
help you if they're vilified if they'redoing things Because I don't know who is
really taking the blame for that,but it's the officers and the ones who
get prosecuted and the ones who getvilified, and it's the office here.

(21:36):
I don't think the mayor or anyof the police commissioners you know, have
really been penalized for that. Anda lot of people say to me and
they ask me, and this inmy campaign, like well, what are
you going to do about crime?What are you going what are you gonna
do about violence? Do you andthis is the question I always ask,
do you have a crime plan?And my answer to that is, look,

(21:59):
I'm not an expert. I'm nota former police officer. I'm not
a former law enforcement So I'm notgoing to come in with a plan,
a quote unquote plan that I'm goingto go to a professional police and police
officer or in this case, acommissioner and say this is I'm a city
council member, this this is myplan. Uh you know, am I
going to work with the commissioner?And as mayor, you're going to work

(22:21):
with commissioner. Absolutely, But Ialways tell people we don't necessarily know number
one, who the commissioner is goingto be. Uh, could be commissioner
outlaw, could be someone else,because that is that is decided by the
by the next mayor. Right,So we don't know who that's going to
be, and I don't. I'mnot gonna ask you what you're gonna do
about them police commissioners. You maynot know yet I do. Yeah,

(22:44):
okay, you can do you wantto? What is your plan? Then
we're the commission So yesday you're gonnado about commission outlaw? Yeah? So
I think the first thing is youare correct as a councilperson. I was
a councilperson. You legislate, youapprove the budget, you may vote against
the budget, you may pass lawsthings like that. However, you do

(23:07):
not tell the police concern what todo. You may suggest things and recommend,
but that's the mayor. The mayorleads the city in terms of its
public safety. The idea that themayor appoints someone who then leads that's incorrect.
There is a lot more to publicsafety, even in law enforcement,

(23:29):
than simply arresting people and patrolling.So the full gamut of city services and
agencies are brought to bear on makingsure that the public is safe and that
the laws are enforced, and thatall the support mechanisms to the officers that
are patrolling, deterring or resting combatingcrime are at their disposal. So in

(23:52):
that sense, the mayor should knowwhat they want to do, and I
do know exactly what I want todo. The next thing is I have
to point a police commissioner that Ihave full confidence in who understands that I
am in charge. That the policecommissioner must agree with my plan and execute

(24:15):
it. The police commissioner then selectsa command staff that agrees with them and
will execute what they want, andthen so forth and so on, right
and so in my sense, Ibelieve that it is important when I go
in that I select a police commissionerthat is known by this city, a

(24:37):
police commissioner who has spent a goodmany years and proven themselves to the people
of this city, someone who isrespected and admire by the police themselves,
someone who is respected and admire bythe citizens. Now there are people,
you have choices, and so Ihave spoken to that person, and I

(24:59):
do keep it confidential right now,and so once that person is in place.
Number one, we are short thirteenhundred police officers, and the main
thing that I tell people is wewill continue to be short so long as
police do not want to continue towork for the city. Of Philadelphia,

(25:21):
and people who want to be policeofficers do not want to come to the
city philadep because they do not feelthat they can do their job. Here.
Is that number is going to goincrease? We could we could look
at the drop numbers and we knowthere's a lot of continue right And part
of how we started a conversation wasabout returning citizens. I mean, you

(25:42):
also need a functional prison system.When someone is arrested and when the judge
orders them held for court, ifthere's no capacity to hold them, they're
on the streets off in times,looking for the witnesses and the victims.

(26:02):
And that's not a good thing becausenow people don't want to cooperate because there
is in capacity, you have overcrowding. Because you have overcrowding, you have
people who don't want to be inour correctional system. And then you have
people that are being put in solitaryconfinement and other things that are not and
right now we don't have enough correctionalofficers right and we don't yes, so
we have an abusive situation. AndI think what happened is people politicians do

(26:29):
not want to increase capacity because they'llbe accused of basically mass incarceration. That
is absolutely incorrect. You have todo your duty if if you do not
have capacity, you're not creating crime. You have to accommodate the needs of
people. We don't put people injail. The judge determines that, and

(26:51):
then we have to comply with whatthe needs are. But we can estimate
what is the average amount of peoplethat are I mean in and out.
Now we're a county facility, we'renot a state facility. So most of
the people that we have are awaitingtrial and they are presumed innocent, even
if they have a criminal record,they're presumed innocent on that particular crime.

(27:12):
They should be treated with the levelof a humanity and civil rights. But
the fact that you don't have capacityactually is the reason why it's being violated.
And this goes in and this wasa story that I heard today when
I was in the car a lotand you may not have heard it.
Yeah, it's the juvenile justice system. They are they are overwhelmed and the

(27:37):
state doesn't have the capacity right tobring these juveniles in, so they stay
in Philadelphia. And the problem isthis, and there's no such thing as
time served. If they if theyhave to spend six months in a state
juvenile facility, but they don't getthere for seven months. Yes, that
means these juveniles will now have gonethirteen months in them that they were only

(28:00):
required to do for six months.And I never understood that until today or
even realized that. And I understandnow that I listen to the story.
They need six months and they wantthem to have rebultation, they want them
to have therapy, they wants totalk to counselors. Which is why that
quote unquote time served does not countbecause they not doing anything and there were

(28:21):
kids lying on the floor floor.Yes, they don't have beds. Look,
they did a crime, so theyneed to do the time. But
that's completely unfair. Yeah that you'retelling a kid you know. Yeah,
I was in the juvenile division,so yeah, okay, so yeah,
you are absolutely correct. Listen,the point of the juvenile justice system is

(28:42):
not to punish. It is torehabilitate in the best interest of the child.
And so there's a maximum amount oftime that can be served four years
or when you turn eighteen. Soif four years is from you know,
let's say you know, you're likethe fourteen years old, the maximum you

(29:07):
get is until you're like eighteen,right, But if you're seventeen, the
maximum you get is a year becausethere's there's a maximum go to an adults
over unless you're certified as an adult, right. Um, and during that
period of time it is to dowhat's in the best interest of the child.

(29:30):
So the judge then UMU orders youto undergo this. Let's say,
as you mentioned rehabilitative program, Wellit didn't start because you were like in
Philly for like six or seven monthsand by no fault of their own,
no no fault of yours, awaitingto go. But while you're being held
there awaiting to go, you're notreceiving any service at all. And that's

(29:53):
the whole point. Like you're supposedto undergo this beneficial service. It starts
when you get there, right,and so um that that is a big
part of this problem. Um anduh, it is just kind of a
reflection on like something that was notanticipated, right, Like basically from the

(30:17):
courts perspective, Um, you know, this person is supposed supposed to receive
this education, counseling, you know, all that stuff for their own good.
Well, nobody was expecting that you'dbe sticking around in Philly for seven
months, and so from the perspectiveof the juvenile, has that been overall
beneficial or not? Like they're reallyupset that they were sitting around for seven

(30:42):
months through no fault of their own, and now they start this program.
I mean, I would think theanswer there is you you you cannot put
these kids in a facility for sevenmonths and then tell them, by the
way, you only got six months, but you're still going to do thirteen.
I mean, you know, Iknow it's not a perfect solution,
but there's no capacity. I thinkyou send them home because they're not in

(31:03):
school. I mean, I can'timagine they're getting they're lounging around, lounging
around, they're sleeping, so right, I mean, I probably not to
be insane, you know. Andone of the things I gotta say,
Drew, is part of that islike half baked good intentions. Like what
happened is, um, there wasa problem at some of the juvenile facilities,
and properly it was raised. Butthen what happens is they're shut down

(31:25):
with no alternative. So now there'sno capacity. Like, yes, if
you have to shut them down,yes, if you if you need to
address the problems, where's the alternative. So, now what happens is you've
lost capacity. It's there's overcrowding.You know. If you you know,

(31:45):
if you take juveniles that have doneviolent crimes and you just don't do anything
with them, that's not good.If you if you order them, you
know, to to receive these beneficialservices, that's wonderful, except that's overcrowded
and in the meantime you don't haveany space to put them. This often

(32:07):
comes up, for example, whenpeople talk about closing facilities, like we
have the issue about you know,um, you know, when there is
a deportation and someone is being heldin a in a county facility, Yes,
it's a problem because of the conditionsof the county facility. But when
people say shut it, they havethis idea that if you shut it,

(32:27):
their loved ones are going to comehome. They're not coming home, They're
going to end up going to likeWestern United States, They're going to end
up in like Louisiana. That isfar worse, you know, in many
cases because as long as there's somewherearound their family, their family can get
them a lawyer, their family cantalk with them, they can help process
the case. Many times, youknow, with help of family and friends,

(32:52):
they have enough to to to begina case for them to legalize here
things like that. Um. Withoutthat, uh, it's a very quick
process. UM. And there's alaw, at least many years ago when
I was practicing lamp UH, youcannot keep someone in uh this detention for

(33:16):
more than one hundred eighty days.If you keep them longer than that,
you do have to release them,you know, and then you'll begin a
they'll have a process, it'll slowdown because they're no longer you know,
being detained. So I want toask one question. We're coming towards the
end, and this is a questionagain I'm always asked on the city council
trail Drew, would you declare astate of emergency in the city of Philadelphia.

(33:39):
My answer is always the same no, because I can't do that.
City council doesn't have that power.Only the mayor does. And a follow
up answer I give is, andby the way, if you just declare
a stay of emergency as the governorof Pennsylvania, there's there there's a process
there, there's protocols of what thatmeans. There's it really doesn't mean much

(34:00):
in the city Philadelphia. So ifa mayor does declare a state of emergency,
that state of emergency needs to bedefined by the mayor. So I'm
going to ask the question, andI'm sure you've been answered it would you
declare a state of emergency in thecity Philadelphia for crime and gun violence?
If you were, well, I'dhave to look into it. I mean

(34:21):
to be honest with you, Idon't really know what it means. Yeah,
that's what I tell people. There'sno definition thereof when you declare a
state of an emergency as a mayor. Typically what happens is we have a
change of rules. So now becausethere's an emergency that checks and balances are
reduced and there's no defined rules.So what happens is I get more freedom

(34:45):
to do what I want without citycouncil having the ability to see what I'm
doing and stop what I'm doing.Like in other words, we have certain
rules that I can't just give outcontracts without the approval of the council.
State of emergency, I might aswell be I might be able to just
do that without counsel of approval.So you know, the thing about it

(35:07):
is people will want the mayor todeclare a stage of emergency because they feel
like the mayor is doing something andMayor Kenny has not done that, including
some council members. Yes, andand um, you know, there's no
magic too. Like in other words, if I knew, for example,
that if the MARI declared a stateof emergency, we would end up with

(35:28):
like fifty state troopers. Uh,state money, federal resources. Um,
you know, money would be unlockedfor all kinds of like addressing crime.
Okay, declare a state state ofemergency. But if that is not the
case, maybe what happens is weshould deal with the fact that if we
all did our jobs and allowed ourour police to do their jobs, we

(35:54):
wouldn't have a need for a stateof emergency. You know, people will
have different opinions. I've been veryclear on my opinion because of my background
both as an attorney and I've donecriminal defense and as a former prosecutor and
as a legislator councilperson who's been verymuch aware of a lot of the issues

(36:16):
here. Not policing and not respondingto people and not providing people a level
of safety is debilitating to this city. It is abusive to the citizens of
the city. Now, if somebodyis living in gated community and they feel

(36:37):
perfectly safe and they're saying, well, there's no problem in Philadelphia, I
would say that's fine, that's youropinion. But you can't speak for all
the other people. And there areso many other people. It's just not
your experience. And mind drew goingout there and dealing with people and looking
at the news and how many peopleare randomly shot and killed and murdered all

(36:59):
over our city. It is alsoin the statistics and the data and everything.
And so the first thing is,you know, if you live in
a community and there is let's say, an armed person kicking your back door,
you'll call nine one one. Thefirst thing you may experience is nobody's
picking up the phone. That isthe first thing that has to be addressed.

(37:22):
There's no excuse for that under anycircumstance. And then if there are
only two patrol cars for your entiredistrict and they're already engaged in something,
what are you supposed to do?So there has to be a reasonable amount
of patrol cars and vehicles and uniformedofficers. I think drones would really help.

(37:45):
I think a drone coming out toyour house before anybody can even get
there, you know, because we'renot trying to catch the guy in the
act in your house, We're tryingto make sure they know. Look at
drone's here. It's talking and shininga lightness video taping me. I need
to get out of here, andthen we'll follow that person, because yeah,
we don't want this person going tosome other person's house. But the

(38:05):
drone technology would be very helpful andhaving, you know, the the appropriate
number of officers available, so I'mnot just looking at the total number on
the roster. How many are availableto you when you need them throughout the
city. Yeah, yes, right, yeah, yes. People will understand

(38:35):
that if there's some loiterer who isum you know, kind of sitting on
your steps being abusive, if thepolice are busy, they'll understand that.
You know, they won't like it. They'd like to know that sometimes when
they call an officer come out andaddress those situations before you have to step
out into right happen, it's goingto ask. That's what has escalation and

(38:58):
what that has resulted in Drew,as you know, is people purchasing guns
like the proliferation of guns in ourcity by people who are law buying citizens,
but really are doing that because theyfeel like they cannot count on the
police, they can't count on thecriminal justice system. They're defenseless. You

(39:20):
know. That is the fault ofthe city, but not providing a core
service it should provide. But thathas resulted in part from politics, and
I would say, you know,kind of jumping on the bandwagon without really
the responsibility of really thinking ahead,like what happens when we do this.
So I have said very clearly wehave to get to a full roster,

(39:45):
and then we have to look atwhere the police are needed. In addition,
because we've you know, you alwayshave to do a little more or
sometimes a lot more when you've hadallowed things to get out of control and
we have enough offic there's leaving everyyear that those numbers will come back down.
And people ask me, well,where are you going to get the

(40:05):
officers from. We have plenty ofplaces to get officers. First of all,
they have to want to work here. We have to have people,
and there are plenty of them whowant to do a great job, who
want to follow the law, whowant to protect people's rights who want to
put themselves at risk of bodily injuryor death on behalf of other people.
But they want to they want tobe that person. They don't want to

(40:30):
they don't want to have a jobwhere they're stifled, stymiede vilified, you
know, sit in the car,not answer. That's not the life that
they're choosing. But for example,in our city, for some reason,
we have not hired veterans to thedegree that we should. We are below
the national average. You know,veterans are very well trained for this kind
of thing, and we can drawin a lot of them. We have

(40:52):
not actually hired a lot of immigrantswho are eligible to be police officers,
who have language abilities, cultural senseactivity, um and UH. And I
think those are two very good placeswhere we can increase, you know,
the recruitment of of potential officers.They go to academy, they pass the
tests and all that type of thing. All right, well, thank you

(41:15):
for coming on. We're we're atthe end. We're gonna have you on
again, and next time we won'ttalk about crime because there are a lot
of other important issues. Again,the prosperity, UH, decrease in the
poverty level, There's a lot ofthings that you, as as a mayor,
are going to want to do.And as much as it's an important
issue, we're talking about crime,there are a lot of other issues that
actually, in the long run,can can decrease decreased crime. Again,

(41:40):
thank you for coming on. Whyhave you on again soon? I want
to thank everyone for watching. Youwere watching Usual Media and the Republican Zone.
I'm Drew Murray, your host.I'll talk to you soon. Republican
Zone is brought to you by DrewBerry.
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