Philadelphia's new mayor was sworn in Tuesday pledging to restore "lawfulness" in a city that has become infested with crime.
Cherelle Parker, a Democrat and the first Black woman elected Philadelphia mayor, began her term Tuesday by signing an executive order to address the city's crime rate.
"We are going to expeditiously get every available resource into the neighborhoods struggling from the scourges of crime, gun violence, drugs and addiction," Parker said, Axios Philadelphia reported.
Parker signed an executive order declaring a citywide public safety emergency and directing the police department to develop "comprehensive plans" that address crime across the city, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The order directs new Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel to work with the Managing Director's office and other city department heads to develop a plan detailing how they will hire more police officers, reduce violent crime, quell quality-of-life offenses, and "permanently shut down all pervasive open-air drug markets," the Inquirer added.
The mayor's promise to increase the number of police officers on the streets is a policing strategy she has pushed for since her days on the city council.
Parker has embraced using stop and frisk, and suggested possibly bringing in the National Guard to clean up open-air drug markets, Axios Philadelphia reported.
"If somebody tells you, 'We think she lacks compassion because she wants to be too aggressive in cleaning up the open-air drug market,' you tell them to think about whether or not they would want their mother, father, sister, brother, loved one on the streets openly using intravenous drugs," Parker said, WPVI reported.
She also addressed the city's petty crime.
"Car theft, shoplifting, yes that retail theft and the illegal use of ATVs that diminish our quality of life," Parker said, Fox 29 reported. "We're gonna make our city safe for the people who live here, who work here and who come into our city from the survivors and from the country and across the world."
Saying that the city must focus on "quality of life" crimes to ensure residents feel safe, Parker added that police officers will be "there as guardians and not warriors, getting to know the people they are sworn to protect and serve," WPVI reported.
Philadelphia has been one of many Democrat-controlled cities that have seen a crime rise in recent years.
A Gallup poll in August showed that less than half of Americans said Philadelphia was a safe city.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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