Philly's Finest Free at Last

So former Philadelphia Police lieutenant Jonathan Josey is found not guilty of simple assault in striking an unarmed woman to the ground during the Puerto Rican Day Parade last year. Apparently, the incident being captured on video and shown to the world was enough to convince the judge that Josey was innocent and has now left the the ex-cop the right to petition for his job back.
 
Other than steal money from City Hall or shoot his or her superiors, what does a Philly cop have to do to get convicted in Philadelphia?




On a lighter note that was a snazzy suit Josey was wearing out of the courtroom, definitely not something he got off the rack at Macy's. I need to find out who his tailor is and see if I can afford him without taking out a second mortgage.

Occupy Philly

Damn, Angela Davis civil-rights activist and icon of the 70's was at the Occupy Philly protests over the weekend and I wasn't.

Now I know this is 2011 and not 1968, which was probably the watershed year or the benchmark for all protests, but still Angela Davis was there and I didn't know. I was busy being domesticated, comfortable and warm. When did I become so old and sedate?



There would have been a time when just mention that anyone was shouting something against someone and I would have been there. I might not have been on the right side, or any side, but I would have been there witnessing people standing up for what they believed were their needs, their wants, their rights. But those days I guess maybe slowly drifting away as I become more and more settled, middle-class and bougie.

Anyway, I was at the protests in Philadelphia about  4 weeks ago when they first started. I was trying to figure out what they were about and why it was that I could no longer find the nerve or the energy to fight "the man" with them. I remember standing behind one of the placards that the protestors would hold up now and again when someone pulled out his camera and motioned me to lift up my arm, maybe Black Panther style, and show my defiance for authority. I just laughed and walked away. I had my own pictures to take. Plus if I was going to get a beat down by the police like they do in other cities, I'd prefer to get it done in New York where the money from the law-suit would be a hell of a lot more.

Police Commissioner Ramsey looks on at the protestors

  

Occupy Philly marches around City Hall

Philly's Finest

I really have nothing to say, so I would just like to welcome Police Commissioner Ramsey to the city of Philadelphia, in case I haven't done so before.

I'm not sure if I should mention that for the past 5 months since you've been on the job, you've only lost 1 police officer while on active duty and had just 1 "wilding party" for the boys in blue to take their frustrations out on 3 of the city's not so innocent citizens. Unfortunately, the whole incident was shot by the Fox News while the suspects were unarmed. Oh well better luck next time.

Maybe I am not being generous enough or fair, so I will just say, boy do you have your work cut for you. I bet you didn't think Philly would be like this.

Killadelphia

“Killadelphia” is what they called it. That was the name Nightline, the show on ABC, had called Philadelphia, the 2nd largest city on the Eastern Seaboard and city of brotherly love the other night. Apparently they had gotten this moniker from an article written by the Philadelphia Daily News reporter, Dave Davies who had commented on the status the city had achieved by having the 5th highest murder rate per capita in the country.

In 2007, there were 392 people killed due to robberies, gang violence or other reasons. And this was down from the 406 killed the previous year. The show said that things had gotten so bad that lessons and skills doctors and surgeons had learned from trying to save lives in Philadelphia had been taken to Iraq so that lives could be saved there.

The city’s new mayor, Michael Nutter was inaugurated January 7th and one of the first things he did was to declare a “crime emergency” for the city. Well, I’m not sure what that is unless it means the city is going to go back to the good old days of when Frank Rizzo was mayor and Civil Rights and Human Rights were just buzz words that people tried to say as they were beaten over head by a policeman’s night stick. But with the incoming police Charles Ramsey from DC, a city with an even higher murder rate, we can only sit back and watch what measures they take to try and stem the tide.