PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Victims of Violent Crime in Philadelphia were the focus of a House Judiciary Committee field hearing in the city Friday.
Lawmakers heard from family members of police officers killed in the line of duty who voiced their frustrations with District Attorney Larry Krasner's policies. They believe not enough is being done to prevent these crimes.
“The only way to enforce these murders of police officers is to enforce our laws,” said Pauline Fitzgerald, mother of Temple University Police Sergeant Christopher Fitzgerald who was murdered in the line of duty last year.
Her husband Joel wants justice for their son and wants Krasner to allow a jury to decide whether the alleged shooter in this case gets to live or die.
“This DA took almost one year — one year — to even take this preliminary hearing for our son‘s murder to court. One year, four continuances,” he said.
Terri O'Connor also testified. She became a widow the day after her 45th birthday when her husband James, a Philly police Cpl., was shot and killed while serving a murder warrant in 2020 .
“My husband got up to go to work just to do his job. If our District Attorney, prosecutors and judges did their job, maybe he would still be here today,” she said.
Krasner says homicides in the city are down 49% in about 2 ½ years.
“We have a city in shambles. We have a District Attorney who says crime is down. Well obviously if you don’t prosecute criminals of course it appears that way,” O'Connor said.
Krasner denounced the hearing.
“They sculpted the hearing to include essentially next to no data and certain witnesses rather than a list of witnesses that is reflective of Philadelphia and what is occurring,” he said.
He said he will not criticize any survivors, co-survivors, or victims.
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