Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is a direct threat to the public safety of the City of Brotherly Love. Philly PD Cpl. James O’Connor, shot and killed in the line of duty Friday, didn’t have to die. If not for Krasner treating violent and dangerous criminals with kid gloves, O’Connor would be alive today.
O’Connor’s alleged killer, Hassan Elliot, should never have been on the streets. He was cut loose and slapped on the wrist by Krasner’s office time and again. Every time Elliot was arrested for serious felonies, Krasner’s indifference and ideology prevented the government from doing its duty to protect the public.
Elliot’s 2017 illegal firearms possession case was settled almost immediately for time served when Krasner took office in 2018. Krasner’s predecessor detained Elliot, but Krasner released him the next day. A year later, he was caught with large amounts of cocaine packaged for distribution. That was a violation of his supervision requirements. Krasner released Elliot, scheduling his trial. That same day (March 1, 2019) Elliot killed someone.
Krasner filed a murder warrant. Unbelievably, the day after Elliot failed to appear for his cocaine case trial, which allowed for Elliot to be detained on the parole violation alone, Krasner instead dropped that charge altogether. Elliot remained a fugitive until he murdered O’Connor.
This approach is par for the course with Krasner. Since he took office in 2018, he has dropped 37 percent of illegal firearms cases, 52 percent more often than his predecessor did, and obtained guilty outcomes in 21 percent fewer cases. In drug cases like Elliot’s, he has dropped 44 percent of cases, compared to 20 percent for his predecessor. Two-thirds of felony cases before Krasner are dropped or lost by his office. More than 60 percent of shooting cases resulted in a dismissal under Krasner — a 50 percent increase over the previous four years.
Public safety isn’t a social experiment. The city is less safe under Krasner’s watch. Homicides are up 11 percent since he took office, and aggravated assaults (shootings) by gun, 19 percent. Crime and disorder are the natural result of turning away from law and order.
Judging by his anti-police rhetoric and actions, Krasner is a better fit for a hard-left law-school seminar than chief prosecutor. He has called law-and-order prosecutors “war criminals,” sued the Philadelphia Police Department 75 times and the familiar chant of “F–k the police” went up at his election-night victory rally.
Krasner’s office is agitating for a new trial for another cop-killer and leftist cause celebre, Mumia Abu-Jamal. Krasner is trying to free a man who murdered a police officer in the line of duty in cold-blood — shooting him in the back and face.[6]
Cops in Philadelphia know all too well the danger caused by Krasner’s reckless policies. When he tried to get some unearned positive press by stopping by the hospital to pay an official visit to Officer O’Connor’s family, his brothers in blue stood sentry and denied Krasner entry to the emergency room.
Krasner isn’t alone. Progressive, “reform-minded” prosecutors now control law and order in 31 cities and counties that are home to tens of millions of Americans, from Chicago to Dallas, Boston to St. Louis. Crime is rising as criminals are cut loose. The public must wake up to the “woke” threat to public safety from within the justice system.
Every police family like Officer O’Connor’s has a nightmare of that knock on the door from their loved one’s colleagues. When I served as a frontline cop and later in various leadership roles, it tore me up just thinking about it. While the thin blue line grieves another fallen officer, the public should show solidarity by demanding these prosecutors put their revolution aside and do their jobs.
Jason Johnson, a former deputy commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department, is president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund.